Aromasin 25 mg 30 tablets

Trade Name:

Aromasin®

Exemestane 25 mg

30 sugar coated tablets

Composition:

Exemestane 25 mg

Inactive ingredients:

Silica colloidal hydrated, crospovidone,  hypromellose, magnesium stearate, mannitol, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium starch glycollate (Type A), polysorbate, polyvinyl alcohol, simeticone, macrogol, sucrose, magnesium carbonate light, methyl parahydroxybenzoate (E218), cetyl esters wax, talc, carnauba wax, ethyl alcohol, shellac, titanium oxide (E171) and iron oxides (E172)

Properties:

Aromasin belongs to a group of medicines known as aromatase inhibitors. These drugs interfere with a substance called aromatase, which is needed to make the female sex hormones, oestrogens, especially in postmenopausal women. Reduction in estrogen levels in the body is a way of treating hormone dependent breast cancer.

Indications:

-Hormone dependent early breast cancer in postmenopausal women after they have completed 2-3 years of treatment with the medicine tamoxifen;

-Hormone dependent advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women when a different hormonal drug treatment has not worked well enough.

Dosage and administration:

-Adults and the elderly:

Aromasin tablets should be taken by mouth after a meal at approximately the same time each day. Your doctor will tell you how to take Aromasin and for how long. The recommended dose is one 25 mg tablet daily.

-Do not stop taking your tablets even if you are feeling well, unless your doctor tells you.

-If you need to go to the hospital whilst taking Aromasin, let the medical staff

know what medication you are taking. 

-Children:

Aromasin is not suitable for use in children.

-If you take more Aromasin than you should, contact your doctor at once or go straight to the nearest hospital casualty department. 

-If you forget to take Aromasin, do not take a double dose to make up for a forgotten tablet.

-If you forget to take your tablet, take it as soon as you remember. If it is nearly time for the next dose, take it at the usual time.

Side effects:

Very common: difficulty sleeping, headache, hot flushes, feeling sick, increased sweating, muscle and joint pain (including osteoarthritis, back pain, arthritis and joint stiffness), tiredness

Common:

loss of appetite, depression, dizziness, carpal tunnel syndrome (a combinations of pins and needles, numbness and pain affecting all of the hand except the little finger, stomach ache, vomiting (being sick), constipation, indigestion, diarrhea, skin rash, hair loss, osteoporosis, pain, swollen hands and feet

Uncommon: drowsiness, muscle weakness, hepatitis, changes in the amount of certain blood cells 

(lymphocytes) and platelets circulating in your blood

Contraindications:

-if you have hypersensitivity to exemestane or any of the other ingredients of Aromasin. 

-if you have not already been through ‘the menopause’, i.e. you are still having your monthly period,

-if you are pregnant, likely to be pregnant or breastfeeding.

Warnings and precautions:

• Before treatment with Aromasin, your doctor may want to take blood samples to make sure you have reached the menopause. 
• Before taking Aromasin, tell your doctor if you have problems with your liver or kidneys.
• Tell your doctor if you have a history or are suffering from any condition which affects the strength of your bones. Your doctor may want to measure your bone density before and during the treatment of Aromasin. This is because drugs of this class lower the levels of female hormones and this may lead to a loss of the mineral content of bones, which might decrease  their strength.

• Please tell your doctor if you are taking or have recently taken any other medicines, including medicines obtained without a prescription.
• Aromasin should not be given at the same time as hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

• The following medicines should be used cautiously when taking Aromasin: rifampicin, carbamazepine or phenytoin, the herbal remedy St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), or preparations containing it.

• Pregnancy and breast-feeding:

Do not take Aromasin if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you are pregnant or think you might be, tell your doctor.

Discuss contraception with your doctor if there is any possibility that you may become pregnant.

• Driving and using machines If you feel drowsy, dizzy or weak whilst taking Aromasin, you should not  attempt to drive or operate machinery.

• Aromasin tablets contain sucrose, which may cause a problem in a small number  of patients with hereditary intolerance to some sugars (glucose-galactose  malabsorption, fructose intolerance or sucrase-isomaltase insufficiency).

• Aromasin contains a small amount of methyl parahydroxybenzoate, which  may cause allergic reactions (possibly delayed), if this should happen, please contact your doctor.

• Keep out of reach of children.

Storage:

Store in a dry cool place

Package:

Carton box holds 2 blisters each of 15 sugar coated tablets, and paper instructions