Arimidex or Femara?

[Rich]

Is it too early to go for Femara? I had read a while back about a Dr. prescribing Femara for earlier stage but aggressive BC. Now the news seems to say Femara is heading toward on label adjuvant. Anyone else heard of off label success of Femara in adjuvant? The same townhall meeting mentioned Arimidex for her2+ patients so I wonder how the one chooses one over the other.

[JoJo]

Have been on 3 different hormonals so far, starting first with Femara and then now on Aromasin. Haven't taken Arimidex nor Tamoxifen.

No idea about the prs/cons between all of them! Interested to hear any further info on them. Anyone??

[anonymous]

I believe that femara has already been approved for adjuvant treatment though I am not 100% sure. But I do know that there have been studies in her 2 neu pos women comparing arimidex and femara and femara was shown to be more effective. On another post it mentioned that the stronger the her 2 the less likely hormonal therapy will work. ( Fewer than 10% of women who are her 2 3+ are ER and PR + ). I know of someone who was such a person and she was able to stay on femara for 17 months with extensive bone mets.

[Ann F]

I'm currently also on Aromasin after switching from Femara. I had severe hot flashes with the Femara. I think that those of us that are HER2 + and PR+ have the options of being on any of these three drugs.

The side effects of Aromasin for me are far fewer after being on it about 2 months now. I went on the aromatase inhibitors in September 2004, after 16 rounds of chemo (the last 8 with Herceptin and Navelbine) after lumpectomy w/positve node involvement, then radiation.

Ann

[*_Ginger_*]

Good question. If someone can clarify - is Femara better for HER2 women than Arimidex ( post menopausal)? I'm switching to Arimidex from Tamoxifen. Is Femara available if you had neg nodes and no known metasasis? Or only if treating advanced stage? I saw something on the board about how once you're treated for a primary tumor the next stage is metasasis....usually....and not another primary tumor. Is this true?