Well my friend talked to me about Chemist Warehouse as she was going off to the city on the bus for her scripts.She said she found her generic scripts much cheaper.She took the name Letrozole and asked them how much - was told $24.40. Last script I bought locally was $36.60. Might pay to do a bit of comparison shopping people - that’s $144 more per year.

Also see @Romla's thread on letrozole brands

@Vangirl My oncologist said I could try a different brand because they are all formulated a bit differently. She mentioned the lactose intolerance bit as well. She said some of her patients had had luck doing this.

I pay $25.39 for Femara at Chemist Warehouse. It’s worth the extra 10 mins drive to get it there rather than the closest chemist which does not always have my brand in stock either.

Reproduced again here in case it helps.Found this on a UK site called MacMillan about Letrozole brands in UKI'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.

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.

Letrozole prices | BCNA Online Network

36 Replies

Vangirl
Member
8 years ago
My oncologist talked himself into it @kmakm :smiley:

I was supposed to start after radiotherapy, but on a ''yay I finished chemo!" high, I said 'why wait?' Obviously I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

After an emergency oncologist consult to discuss what to do about the unbearable side effects this week, we agreed to pause for post-chemo recuperation and to get past radiotherapy.

Then I reminded him that after I finish radiotherapy I'm going on holiday and he took pity and said I can't be having Letrozole misery on my hols. Two weeks after I get back I'm having my mastectomy/Diep flap, and you have to come off AIs for surgery. I am booked in to see my oncologist two weeks post surgery and I will have to take another run up.

I also think it helped that he was in a very beneficent mood, as he and his wife are looking forward to the imminent arrival of a new baby :smile:

TLDR: I wasn't meant to start yet, and a confluence of events means I can't realistically restart until mid November. Also, my oncologist is a sweetie.
kmakm
Member
8 years ago
How did you wangle a reprieve @Vangirl?
Vangirl
Member
8 years ago
Just asked the pharmacist at Peter Mac and he said that theoretically the brand should not make any difference however many patients report that it does. Mystery remains and I will definitely try a different brand when my reprieve is over.
Vangirl
Member
8 years ago
@kmakm understood.
kmakm
Member
8 years ago
@Vangirl No, she just used that as an example.
Romla
Member
8 years ago
Probably cheap @Sister
Vangirl
Member
8 years ago
Okay phew, no Tartrazine in my APO Letrozole!
Vangirl
Member
8 years ago
Wow @Romla I stand potentially corrected!!
Sister
Member
8 years ago
Begs the question of why they feel they need to use it in a tablet
Vangirl
Member
8 years ago
@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!

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Letrozole prices

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