Letrozole prices

Sister

Reading with interest!

Kiwi Angel

I have heard the same thing about these drugs. When I first got my tamoxifen I took a photo of it so I would know what brand to get or not to get in the future. 

Romla

Reproduced again here in case it helps.

Found this on a UK site called MacMillan about Letrozole brands in UK

I've just started on letrozole a month ago on Sun brand  and after reading all the experience of ladies on here, I tried to check exactly what the differences are between the various brands. It is possible to check the detailed ingredients (active (letrozole) and inactive/excipients)  by looking at the 'summary of product characteristics' which is available from the manufacturers and what is held by the licensing authority.

There are a couple of key points;  

1.Cipla and Teva both contain tartrazine, but the others don't. Others use iron oxide yellow for colouring. Cipla also has iron oxide red as well as iron oxide yellow. None of the others do. These two brands are the most different from Femara original. 

2. Sandoz and Femara (Novartis) look identical across all ingredients.

3. Accord and Zentiva are essentially identical to Sandoz.

4. Sun Pharma is almost the same as Sandoz except for Sun contains PEG (water soluble binder )  and povidone ( a water soluble stabiliser) . Both these are very common stable additives, non-toxic,  without any particular SEs 

5.  Actavis is almost the same as Sandoz except it contains polyvinyl alcohol - a water soluble, stable, commonly used non-toxic additive in the coating. 

Seems that many complaints in UK about Cipla brand and Sandoz brand is popular.

Romla

Please remember despite the above on fillers Letrozole whatever the brand had side effects some/all we will probably experience - fillers is not the whole story but may help a little enough to keep us going.

Artferret

The most I've ever paid was round $36 and that was through the hospital. I get mine from priceline pharmacy. Most of the time it's $26-27 for one of the generics. I don't stick to one particular brand as i figure they all have the same active ingredient (letrozole). They do try to get in the cheaper brands but sometimes they can't. I did stress over the different brand thing at the start but now i don't. 

Vangirl

APO-Letrozole:

"...each tablet contains the following inactive ingredients: lactose monohydrate, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium starch glycolate type A, magnesium stearate, hypromellose, hyprolose, macrogol 8000, titanium dioxide and iron oxide yellow."

From http://secure.healthlinks.net.au/content/apo/index_pi_apo.cfm?product=txpletro

Vangirl

@kmakm just to be clear are they saying it's lactose alone which is responsible for the undesirable side effects?

Romla

 I haven’t heard that one - lactose - thought it was tartrazine and maybe red iron oxide might be the issue. Just remembered have a book on additives will look up

Vangirl

Thanks @Romla

Romla

Can’t find it at moment - much rearranging due to renovations earlier in year.Tartrazine is a food colouring Ithink 

Romla

I found this. I noted insomnia ,heatwaves/ hot flushes?  ,depression - even in minute doses. Enough to make one a little cautious.

Tartrazine is a synthetic yellow azo dye derived from coal tar and has been banned in several countries (Austria, Norway) because of serious side effects such as causing potentially lethal asthma attacks and nettle rash, hives, DNA damage, tumors of the thyroid and ADHD. 
Other dangers of Tartrazine are anxiety attacks, itching, rhinitis, urticaria, general weakness, heatwaves, migraine, clinical depression, blurred vision, palpitations, feeling of suffocation, pruritus, purple skin patches and sleep disturbance. In rare cases, Tartrazine side effects are noticeable even at minute doses and can last up to 72 hours after exposure. 

Vangirl

@Romla it seems to me that many of the additives are things we would find in processed foods. Not saying that means they can't be bad for us but I'm pretty sure they don't cause a person to emotionally and physically disintegrate within hours of ingestion. 

They may possibly be responsible for a little nausea or bowel trouble but those are the least of my problems with Letrozole!

Sister

Begs the question of why they feel they need to use it in a tablet 

Vangirl

Wow @Romla I stand potentially corrected!!

Vangirl

Okay phew, no Tartrazine in my APO Letrozole!