If you have been trying to get pregnant without success, perhaps you should be wary if your doctor wants to prescribe the breast cancer drug Femara to treat your infertility.
United States researchers announced April 9th that three out of ten women take the common breast cancer drug Femara to treat infertility even though it has been shown to increase risks to the baby.
The researchers said that this drug is often prescribed “off label” and used to treat infertility instead of breast cancer.
Femara has been classified by the United States Food and Drug Administration as posing a pregnancy risk.
Femara or leptosome is made by Novartis and approved to treat post-menopausal women with hormone-receptor positive breast cancers, in which a hormone is driving the cancer.
This drug is in a class of drugs known as aromatase inhibitors. It works by blocking the production of estrogen in postmenopausal women.
Although Femara has been studied as an infertility treatment, there has not been enough evidence to date to show that it is safe and effective, according to researchers at the pharmacy benefit company Prime Therapeutics, which presented the findings at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy meeting in San Diego.
It is alarming to note that in one Canadian study conducted in 2005, a team found nearly a three-fold increase in the risk of birth defects in a group of 150 babies born after letrozole treatment. The company that conducted the study has warned doctors not to use the drug as a treatment of infertility.
Once a drug has been approved by the FDA, doctors may prescribe it as they see fit.
Doctors who prescribe Femara say that they are using it for women with ovulation problems.
According to a website for the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, when the enzyme aromatase is blocked by the drug it causes estrogen levels in young women to fall, which then triggers the release of follicle stimulating hormone or FSH, which brings about ovulation.
This fertility center said the Canadian study was too small, and its trial design has been seen as “flawed.”
They may be right. But then again—they might not.
If your doctor prescribes Femara for your infertility caused by ovulation problems, you might consider asking if there is an effective alternative.
At least until all the facts are in!
The Facts About Femara for Infertility
Male Infertility Linked With Prostate Cancer?
Male Infertility and a Link to Prostate Cancer
A New Patch for Treatment of Infertility
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