CML Patients in Remission May Discontinue Taking Tasigna

Many of the adverse side effects of Tasigna chemotherapy can be avoided since for some the drug may be discontinued

Saturday, December 1, 2018 - Chemotherapy patients have been conditioned to believe their disease could be fatal or that they will be faced with a lifetime of drugs, the least of which carry terrible side effects. Anti-cancer chemotherapy drug Tasigna, manufactured by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG, has proven to be so effective in fighting Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that the FDA has allowed the drug to update their label with some very good news. Tasigna's new information includes information on how certain patients may discontinue the use of the drug, an unprecedented admission coming from the US health watchdog agency. According to the FDA, "With today's updated dosing recommendations, patients with early (chronic) phase CML who have been taking Tasigna for three years or more, and whose leukemia has responded to treatment according to specific criteria as detected by a test that has received FDA marketing authorization, may be eligible to stop taking Tasigna." Patients showing a strong response to treatment may discontinue the drug with the permission and under the ongoing supervision and monitoring of their oncologist. Information about Tasigna Atherosclerosis attorneys representing Tasigna patients offer information about understanding Tasigna Atherosclerosis.

There are around 9000 of CML reported each year out of which a little over 1000 will die from the disease according to the National Cancer Institute. CML causes the bone marrow to make excess white blood cells. Tasigna blocks the proteins responsible for the abnormal growth of these blood cells.

Studies of patients in remission from CML measured their response when taken off of Tasigna. Scientists were looking for re-occurrences of a patient's cancer. Patient's response to Tasigna was measured before being taken off of the drug. Over 1/2 half of the patients remained in remission for a period of over three years post stopping taking the drug. The FDA report goes on to describe the side effects of stopping Tasigna as "musculoskeletal symptoms such as body aches, bone pain, and pain in extremities. Some patients experienced prolonged musculoskeletal symptoms." For those that continued taking Tasigna, common side effects included "nausea, rash, headache, fatigue, itching (pruritus), vomiting, diarrhea, cough, constipation, joint pain (arthralgia), upper respiratory inflammation (nasopharyngitis), fever (pyrexia), night sweats, low levels of low blood platelets (thrombocytopenia) and low levels of certain blood cells (myelosuppression or thrombocytopenia, neutropenia and anemia)."

The FDA further acknowledges that Tasigna can be responsible for a patient developing atherosclerosis, a permanent and irreversible narrowing of the passageways that carry blood to the extremities, heart, lungs, and brain. "Severe side effects of taking Tasigna include myelosuppression, blockages in the heart or arteries (cardiac and arterial vascular occlusive events)." This fact may be the most important of all as Tasigna's cancer-fighting strength causes permanent damage to the body's major arteries, irritating and roughening them, and causing the fatty portion of the blood to stick, accumulate and harden. When a chunk of plaque breaks free from the larger artery it can become lodged at the opening of a smaller blood vessel and cause a pulmonary embolism, heart attack or a stroke.

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