Generic letrozole - is it as good as Femara?

Just went to collect prescription and they have given me generic Letrozole instead of branded Femera. I appreciate that technically it should be the same, but is it?
Ingredients seem the same, but are they the same quality etc ?. The thing is, two products can purport to be the same thing, and have the same ingredients, but be markedly different in quality. For example, a cheap tin of baked beans can call itself baked beans because it purports to have the same ingredients, but in reality the cheap beans are not as good because the manufaturer have used inferior ingredients or in different quantities.
Has anyone encountered problems after swapping to generic Letrozole?

Hi Lemongrove - have a look at the ‘Arimidex, now by Teva’ thread (I’ll try to find it and bump it up). That shows some of our experiences with arimidex/anastrazole. May be similar.

I was dreadful on the generic version and it could only be changed by the onc as GP surgery wouldn’t put it back to original - cost grounds of course. Onc wrote to GP specifying branded version and I have been so much better with se. Went back to the ‘normal’ me within a week.

Liz

Lemongrove (love that name), officially there are no differences. The branded name is sold while the company have the patent, when this runs out, a generic (cheaper…) pack becomes available. I’m on Anastrozole (Arimidex) and have had both branded and generic and there are no differences and I’ve had no problems. If you have any problems you should report it to the yellow card scheme.

More info on:

nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1003.aspx?CategoryID=73&SubCategoryID=108

Tina

Hi Lemongrove
I agree with Liz (I was about to post the same thing when I saw her reply!) I went from Arimidex to generic anastrazole a few months back and initially didn’t think anything of it. However I then started getting SE’s that had not been there before and as this was the only medication change in the last 3 years I had a hunt on the forums and came across the thread that Liz has just bumped. I know it wasn’t psychosomatic as I’d not read anything about any problems. I started getting hot flushes and also my sleep was really disturbed - there were probably other minor SE’;s as well but these were the ones I really noticed that effected me. I changed back to Arimidex a month or 2 back and can honestly say these SE’s have now gone. I see that Juliet66 has also started a thread about the same change from Femara to letrozole so maybe you can compare notes?
Nicky x

Thanks for the information.
I suppose I am being over cautious, but I’m not using AI’s as an insurance policy to stop recurrence, I am now dependent on this stuff to stop progression - so I can’t risk anything.
My Oncologist did actually prescribe Femara, but I guess it’s the GP’s call when it’s out of their budget.
The only trump card I can think of is to hint to my GP that unless they give me branded Femara, I will ask my Oncologist to switch me to an even more expensive drug (Fulvestrant maybe?). I wouldn’t actually do this, because I don’t need Fulvestrant, but it might be enough to put the wind up them !.

I posted about this a few days ago. Here is the link ( hopefully)

breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/now-it-is-femara-and-tartrazine-by-teva-t32995.html

Julie x

Lemongrove - I have bone mets and have since orig diagnosis July 07. Have been on the Arimidex since Sept 08 so I have it to slow progression. My Mum was on it for 6 yrs or so to stop any poss recurrence.

Liz

Ha Lemongrove, love it!!

There should be absolutely no difference. As someone already said the name given is simply attributable to the manufacturer and the ‘brand’ as such is the pharmaceutical company which developed the drug. Once it is off the ‘trial period’ the costs come down and can be made by other companys. In effect, exact same ingredients parcelled up in different name. Bes wishes all, J.

If only that were true. The letrozole itself does not differ, it is what it is mixed with.

If you look at the link i posted a few posts earlier…the teva brand has letrozole mixed with tartrazine (E102) which i personally cannot tolerate…oh and it is banned in certain countries as a harmful additive !!!

Julie x

Hi Julie

Thanks for your info. This made me go and check all of my tabs! I have 3 different boxes of Letrozole, one from actavis, one from Sandoz and one from Novartis. None of these have the E102 (tartrazine) that you mention. Which was the manufacturer one that has the E102 in it? Thanks again, J.

Found this interesting article on the mhra.gov.uk site on the Letrozole with E102 in it and it refers to the allergic reaction possibilities. This will teach me to check in future! Thanks again. J.

mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/par/documents/websiteresources/con076123.pdf

Thanks for that. The one i was given was ‘Teva’ the one cited in the article link. No one thought to ask about possible sensitivities. Mmm

Julie x

Hi,
this is the third post on this so you may find it of interest to read through the other comments for other people’s experiences with the different brands. The 10 year licence for Novartis has just ended so anyone can make them now. They do all have to have the correct amount of the letrozole drug in but they can seal it up in any form. So most side effects actually come from them using a cheaper coating to reduce the costs. I had the same problem with tamoxifen and nagged until I was given nolvadex-d, which was much more expensive but with fewer side effects for many people. I had no flushes at all on that brand.
So i went into the chemist ready to do battle again. I go to an independent chemist who only has 6 customers taking femara brand at present. They had looked into this and are only stocking the Sandoz brand (if they can get it) because it has the exact same product coding, which signifies an exact replica in every way, they say. Juliet has already found a generic brand that has the same letrozole but has coated the tablet differently and hence the palpatations from the tartrazine. Interestingly the Femara brand is £98 a pack and the Sandoz only £89 so not a big saving.
Lily

Well I have to say this was really interesting - looks like Arimidex is mostly okay but with others it’s not so straightforward. As I’m switching to a different AI soon I’ll watch out for this!

Hi
Hi!
Just a point of interest regarding the generic letrozole.
Have been on letrozole for 15 months now since switching from tamoxifen when diagnosed with secondaries and had no problem with the femara brand. Since the patent expired I’ve had letrozole from Actavis and Mylan and I now seem to be experiencing terrible joint pains and find it very hard to get motivated (which is unlike me as I’m a very positive person). Could it be due to SE’s from the generic brand? I’ve noticed that the Nylan brand contains hypromellose which has given some ladies problems in Tamoxifen.
Has anybody else experienced any problems? My onc said that the generic brands are all the same but they’re not the same with the tablet coating and I’m sure that I’m not experiencing this psychologically.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks Liz x

Hello

Yes I have just started a box of Mylan which is my first generic batch, I have had 2 1/2 years of femara(ok on Femara apart from mouth problems but ok otherwise) The Mylan and Ranbaxy version(my next box) have hypromellose in it. I am okay with it but that doesn’t mean anything because I was ok on Femara to begin with.Prior to this I was on Tamoxifen for 5 years which I was okay with.

I have had a discusion with my GP because the generic versions are about a quarter of the price of Femara and I wanted to know what is going to happen if I have problems with the generic version. Anyway what we decided was that if I am okay on a particular supplier of a generic then I keep to that make. If I have a problem with all the generic drugs I may be able to go back on Femara.

Hazel