Food-drug interactions could be impactful for some lung cancer patients, according to new study (Alecensa absorption greatly increased when taken with fatty foods)

Medical Xpress / Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network ^ | June 12, 2023

[ConservativeMind]

Research has found that when alectinib—a safe and effective small molecule kinase inhibitor used to treat some types of advanced lung cancer—was taken with a fuller breakfast, or with lunch, it resulted in significantly higher drug concentrations than when taken with a low-fat breakfast. The researchers evaluated 20 randomized patients who took one of two daily alectinib doses with either low-fat yogurt alone, a full continental breakfast, or a lunch of their choosing. Taking alectinib with low-fat yogurt resulted in 14% less exposure than in the continental breakfast group, and 20% less than in those who took the medication with lunch.

Said Daan A.C. Lanser, MSc.: "Sometimes, we hear that patients are advised to take their twice daily alectinib strictly 12 hours apart, with the result that some patients will take it with just a small snack in the morning or evening. We believe that taking it with a substantial meal containing enough fat is far more important for the absorption and efficacy of the treatment than to wait 12 hours between doses."

The relative differences in alectinib plasma concentrations were measured 12 hours after the last dose. The researchers also studied the number and severity of side effects—and found no significant differences between the three groups, which were low overall.

Dr. Patel continued, "Alectinib is a standard-of-care oral small molecule inhibitor for patients with ALK-rearranged metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Maintaining therapeutic doses long-term is key to this drug's activity. In this study, the effect of taking a dose of alectinib with a small, low-fat snack resulted in more than a third of patients not reaching the goal alectinib drug concentration in blood, which highlights the need for education and dietary modification for patients taking these drugs long term."

[ConservativeMind]

Alecensa is the brand name for this drug, which costs many thousands of dollars. Not getting the treatment you need, and are paying for, is terrible.

All you need to do is have enough fat in your two meals for the two doses you take through the day. You can improve your absorption a bit over 20% over a low fat snack occasion.

It’s practically free to do, and likely tasty.

[ConservativeMind]

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[Ford4000]

“Impactful”? Do people not know enough vocabulary that they need to make up words? How about “significant?”