Patients are wasting thousands of dollars of oncology drugs every month and facing increased risks of overdose due to labels recommending they be taken on an empty stomach, a US expert argues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
With some drugs being absorbed up to ten times more effectively when taken with food, patients were literally flushing these costly drugs down the toilet, said Professor Mark Ratain, director of the Center for Personalized Therapeutics at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
He pointed to the example of abiraterone acetate, a prostate cancer drug which “has a food effect greater than any other marketed drug (five- to ten-fold, depending on fat content), yet it is labelled to be taken fasting.”
“Taking...
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