Hi
I’m currently on imatinib 300mg
Doing ok but struggle with side effects depending on which brand of imatinib I get. Accord brand seems to work best for me.
Hospital is currently having issues getting accord so my Haematologist has suggested changing to Nilotinib.
I have read Nilotinib can put pressure on the heart. Is imatinib kinder to the body with less long term side effects?
Nilotinib does have the potential to be hard on your heart, compared to imatinib. For this reason, in the hospital where I am treated, they are actively moving people on from nilotinib to other options. It would not be usual to move a patient to nilotinib, at least where I am treated, unless there were very good reasons and other options were ruled out.
David.
Hi David,
Thank you for your response. That is interesting that they’re actively moving people on from nilotinib to other options.
Yet my haematologist has recently suggested Nilotinib. I would have thought all haematologist in the uk would be following the same procedure/plan.
Hi Evie,
I can't advise about an imatinib/nilotinib change, but I have kept a close eye for some years on the question of different side effects from different generic imatinib supplies. Different people have different impacts, but overall from many threads on this subject over the years, the one which seems least likely to cause issues in Sandoz. This is not a surprise as Sandoz is the brand name for generic drugs of Novartis, who did the original development of Glivec, which was their brand name for imatinib. I am currently getting Sandoz imatinib, supplied by Alcura, from a prescription from my consultant in Chester.
Hi Alastair,
Thank you for your response. A lot of people have said about the Sandoz brand but unfortunately this is the brand that caused a lot of my side effects, such as extremely puffy eyes, joint pain and fatigue.
As soon as I took accord brand side effects got so much better especially my puffy swollen eyes.
The hospital is currently struggling to get accord so hoping they will be able to get it as I would like to stay on imatinib.
