Is Tykerb more effctive if taken with food?

[Julie2]

What is your opinion on this article which says that Tykerb is more effective if taken with food.

http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/78/11795/lower-costs

Thanks,
Julie

[VirginiaGirl]

This is an interesting article, and not especially new. I just met with my onc two days ago to go over how to take Tykerb & Xeloda. (Obviously my signature is not up-to-date, put that on my list of things to do). He told me to take the 5 tykerb pills, either all at once or spread throughout the day however I wanted. I don't recall him talking about food except in relation to the xeloda (within 30 min after eating). I will send this article to my onc and see what he says, if anything. I doubt he will make a change. At this point, I'm waiting for the meds to come in, should start later this week. I am nervous about this combo, I've tolerated recent chemos well, not sure how this will go. I've already told the onc that I may have a hard time forcing myself to take pills that make me feel sick, he was understanding about that. Unfortunately for us, there is little to no incentive for the makers of tykerb to study the better absorption with food issue since it would seriously cut into their bottom line. :(

Peace

[chrisy]

I asked my oncologist about this when the article first came out. She told me the reason you should take it on an empty stomach is that that way the dose is more controllable. If you take with food, the amount of the drug you absorb would go up (hence the info in the article) because you are also digesting other stuff and over a longer period of time. The problem is, you don't know how much of the tykerb is getting into your system. So yes, probably "more" but how much? Toxic levels?

So, contrary to the uproar caused by this article when it came out, the recommendation is so you know how much of the drug you are getting, not to make you take more of it than you need.