Medication brand changes in hormone therapy for breast cancer /ENABLE
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Medication brand changes in hormone therapy for breast cancer. A community pharmacy intervention development to improve patients’ adherence and quality of life. ENABLE
IRAS ID
327926
Contact name
Yolanda/ Y Eraso
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London Metropolitan University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Annually, 55,900 women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. After completing surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, around 44,720 (80%) are prescribed hormone therapy (HT) drugs. These drugs help in preventing the cancer coming back (recurrence) or spreading to other parts of the body (metastasis). When patients are prescribed HT they take it as a daily tablet, usually for 5 or 10 years. HT medication produces considerable side effects: hot flashes, depression, low sexual desire, joint pain, low energy and tiredness among other bothersome symptoms. As a consequence, some women stop taking the medication early or do not take it as prescribed (poor adherence). Around 50% of women have poor adherence by five years.
Many factors influence women to completely stop or not take their HT drugs as indicated. Our preliminary research has identified that changing the medication brand name (generics) can be challenging for patients. It is common practice for community pharmacies (CPs) to dispense a different generic of the same drug. This can negatively impact many patients, who experience: new side effects, lack of information on generics, feel unsupported, and encounter disbelief from healthcare professionals. This affects in turn women’s confidence in taking their medication, e.g. they do not take the medication or stop taking it if they cannot find a brand that suits them.
We will work closely with patients, pharmacists and a breast cancer nurse to develop an intervention to improve medication consultations in CPs. This will include, a) a diary for women to record their medication symptoms and support an informed conversation, b) a brief guideline for pharmacists with steps to organise the consultation. We will test the intervention in 5 CPs (North London) that will recruit 20 patients. Patients will complete a diary and attend a consultation with the pharmacists within 3 months. Follow-up interviews will check if the intervention is acceptable to patients and pharmacists.REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/WM/0137
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion