Aribex

Anacare is indicated for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer.
Anacare is indicated for the first-line treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor unknown locally advanced or metastatic
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Anacare is indicated for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer.
Anacare is indicated for the first-line treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor unknown locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
Anacare is indicated for the second-line treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women with disease progression following tamoxifen therapy.
Patients with ER-negative disease and patients who did not respond to previous tamoxifen therapy rarely responded to Anacare.

The dose of Anastrozole is one tablet 1 mg taken once a day. For patients with advanced breast cancer, Anastrozole should be continued until tumor progression. For adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer in postmenonausal women, the optimal duration of therapy is unknown.
Patients with Hepatic Impairment
: No changes in dose are recommended for patients with mild-to-moderate hepatic impairment. Anastrozole has not been studied in patients with severe hepatic impairment.
Patients with Renal Impairment
: No changes in dose are necessary for patients with renal impairment.
Pediatric Use
: The safety and efficacy of Anastrozole in pediatric patients have not been established.
Geriatric Use
: The pharmacokinetics of Anastrozole are not affected by age.

Serious adverse reactions with Anacare occurring in less than 1 in 10,000 patients, are: 1) skin reactions such as lesions, ulcers, or blisters; 2) allergic reactions with swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and/or throat. This may cause difficulty in swallowing and/or breathing; and 3) changes in blood tests of the liver function, including inflammation of the liver with symptoms that may include a general feeling of not being well, with or without jaundice, liver pain or liver swelling. Common adverse reactions (occurring with an incidence of >10%) in women taking Anacare included: hot flashes, asthenia, arthritis, pain, arthralgia, hypertension, depression, nausea and vomiting, rash, osteoporosis, fractures, back pain, insomnia, pain, headache, bone pain, peripheral edema, increased cough, dyspnea, pharyngitis and lymphedema.

Ischemic Cardiovascular Events
: In women with pre-existing ischemic heart disease, an increased incidence of ischemic cardiovascular events was observed with Anacare in the ATAC trial (17% of patients on Anacare and 10% of patients on tamoxifen). Risk and benefits of Anacare therapy should be considered in patients with pre-existing ischemic heart disease.
Bone Effects
: Results from the ATAC trial bone substudy at 12 and 24 months demonstrated that patients receiving Anacare had a mean decrease in both lumbar spine and total hip bone mineral density (BMD) compared to baseline. Patients receiving tamoxifen had a mean increase in both lumbar spine and total hip BMD compared to baseline.
Cholesterol
: During the ATAC trial, more patients receiving Anacare were reported to have elevated serum cholesterol compared to patients receiving tamoxifen (9% versus 3.5%, respectively).

Anastrozole is a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor. The growth of many cancers of the breast is stimulated or maintained by estrogens. In postmenopausal women, estrogens are mainly derived from the action of the aromatase enzyme, which converts adrenal androgens (primarily androstenedione and testosterone) to estrone and estradiol. The suppression of estrogen biosynthesis in peripheral tissues and in the cancer tissue itself can therefore be achieved by specifically inhibiting the aromatase enzyme.