Zytiga with food....wha???

[DaC00tie]

I just read this article from Medical News Today. Apparently the claim is, that if you take Zytiga with food, the absorbtion of the drug into your system increases by 4 to 5 times and is more effective. The added school of thought on this is, that if it is 4 to 5 times more absorbive, then the patient will be able to reduce their dosage and therefore the cost. Here's the link:

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

[whatsinaname]

Great news. Lets see what my quack has to say about this

[pjoshea13]

Studies of interest:

[1] "Reversal of PSA progression on abiraterone acetate through the administration with food in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer."

[2] "Prospective International Randomized Phase II Study of Low-Dose Abiraterone With Food Versus Standard Dose Abiraterone In Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer."

-Patrick

[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/257...

[2] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/295...

[DaC00tie in reply to pjoshea13]

Thank you, interesting stuff.

[cesanon in reply to pjoshea13]

How do you convert this to action?

They are not going to charge you that much less for a lower dose. You need to get the regular prescription, then cut the dose down to perhaps a quarter on your own.

Seems like a recipe to screw up. And if you inform your doc that you are doing this, you will give him a heart attack. He/she might even decide the legal risk for them and their institution is to great for them to participate and enable you.

And what happens when you use the regular does, but just make sure you are taking it with food? Does that represent an overdose????

[DaC00tie in reply to cesanon]

I'm not implying that I'm going to reduce my dosage. Not without doctor's consent and approval. I'm simply passing on an article with interesting information.

[cesanon in reply to DaC00tie]

DaC00tie

That was me attempting to think this through.

If the Docs aren't giving you instructions about taking it with or without food, it is an issue you can't ignore if you are taking Zytiga. One way or the other.

[cesanon in reply to DaC00tie]

Where I think this ends up is that eventually the Docs will change their instructions, reducing the dose. Then the drug company will increase it's pricing to protect it's revenue.

And in the end we will still suffer the same costs and same side effects.

[herb1]

I'm not an MD, but I think the only reason Zytiga is given at the higher dose, without food, is that those were the conditions of the clinical trial on the basis of which Zytiga was approved. And, at the moment, that's the only 'legal' guidance that exists for docs and cancer centers.