TRELSTAR - What is TRELSTAR

As of 2005 over 2 million American men are living with prostate cancer. For many of these men, having surgery or radiation therapy may be enough to treat the disease. Those with more advanced disease may need other kinds of treatment. In these patients, TRELSTAR is one choice for treatment.

TRELSTAR is a type of prescription drug known as an LHRH agonist, used for the management of advanced prostate cancer. The goal of treating advanced prostate cancer is to slow down its growth and decrease the symptoms of the disease.

Testosterone allows for the growth of prostate cancer cells, so decreasing the amount of testosterone in the blood is an effective way to slow down the growth of the cancer cells.

Lowering Your Testosterone Level
Most prostate cancer cells need male hormones, such as testosterone, to grow. An effective way reduce this growth and reduce the symptoms of prostate cancer is to reduce or remove testosterone available to these cells.

The testicles normally make testosterone in response to hormone signals from the pituitary, which is a small gland at the base of the brain. One way of lowering testosterone is to remove the testicles – otherwise known as orchiectomy. Most men prefer to take a drug that lowers testosterone rather than have this type of surgery.

What role does TRELSTAR play in this process?
TRELSTAR is a type of prescription drug known as an LHRH agonist. TRELSTAR works by telling the pituitary to stop making a hormone called luteinizing hormone, or LH. The role of LH in the body is to tell the testes to make testosterone. When you take TRELSTAR, the amount of LH in your bloodstream goes down. This causes your testes to stop making testosterone, and the amount of testosterone in your blood falls to a low level.

Treatment With TRELSTAR - What to Expect

Indications and Usage
TRELSTAR^® Depot and TRELSTAR^® LA are indicated in the palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer. TRELSTAR Depot or TRELSTAR LA offer an alternative treatment for prostate cancer when orchiectomy or estrogen administration are either not indicated or unacceptable to the patient.

Safety Information

The most commonly reported adverse events associated with the use of TRELSTAR^® Depot/TRELSTAR^® LA included hot flushes (58.6%/73.0%), skeletal pain (12.1%/13.2%), impotence (7.1%/2.3%), headache (5.0%/6.9%), leg pain (2.1%/5.2%), and edema in legs (0.0%/6.3%) . TRELSTAR is contraindicated in women who are or may become pregnant as well as patients who are hypersensitive to triptorelin, other LHRH agonists, or LHRH . Infrequent postmarketing reports of anaphylactic shock and angioedema have been received since 1986 (global experience) . As with all LHRH agonists, triptorelin causes an initial transient increase in testosterone levels. Patients may experience the onset or exacerbation of symptoms during this period, including bone pain, neuropathy, hematuria, spinal cord compression, or urethral or bladder outlet obstruction. Patients with metastatic vertebral lesions and/or urinary tract obstruction should be closely observed.