Cancer, Lung Cancer, and a Special Drug
Cancer is a scary word, right? Especially lung cancer, which is a tough one to beat. But we have something called alectinib, a tiny little drug that helps fight certain types of lung cancer.
It’s pretty safe and does its job well. But here’s the catch, how well it works may depend on when and how you take it.
The Importance of Timing and Food
Imagine if the way you took your medicine could make it work better. That’s precisely what some smart researchers in The Netherlands wanted to find out.
They looked at 20 patients who took this drug with different meals. Some had it with a light breakfast of low-fat yogurt. Others took it with a big breakfast, while a third group had it with lunch.
Guess what they found? The drug worked better when taken with a full breakfast or lunch than with just yogurt.
People who had a light breakfast had 14% less of the drug in their blood than those who had a full breakfast. And 20% less than those who had it with lunch.
What Does This Mean for Patients?
This is big news for people who take this drug. The more of the drug in the blood, the better it works. And if it works better, people may live longer.
But what about side effects, you ask? Well, the side effects were the same whether people took the drug with a big meal or a light one.
Sometimes, patients are told to take the drug twice a day, exactly 12 hours apart. This might mean taking it with just a snack in the morning or evening.
But this research shows that having it with a meal that has enough fat might be a better idea.
What Do the Experts Say?
One expert, Dr. Patel, who was not involved in the study, says that this research is important. He says it shows that what you eat when you take your cancer drug can be as important as other drugs you’re taking.
Dr. Patel also says that alectinib is a standard drug for a type of lung cancer called ALK-rearranged metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
For this drug to work well, it’s important to keep a certain level of it in the blood over time.
But the study found that when people took the drug with a small, low-fat snack, more than a third of them didn’t reach the needed drug level in the blood.
So, the big takeaway? When you’re taking these drugs long term, knowing what to eat with them can be super important!
The next time you pop your pill, remember this: Bigger Breakfast, Better Cancer Drug? Maybe it’s time to beef up that morning meal!
If you care about lung health, please read studies about why Viagra may be useful in treating lung diseases, and scientists find herbal supplements to treat lung cancer.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about gum disease linked to impaired lung function, and results showing COVID-19 is not just a respiratory illness, it can cause strokes too.
The study was published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
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