ANDROCUR® 50mg (cyproterone acetate)
Information in this fact sheet is meant to assist you in making decisions about your treatment. Always make medication decisions in consultation with your health team.
What is Androcur® 50mg used for?
Androcur® 50mg is a steroidal anti-androgen. The active ingredient is cyproterone acetate.
Androgens such as testosterone are natural male sex hormones which are also produced, to a slight extent, in females. In men, androgens may help cancer cells to grow in some types of prostate cancer. By blocking these hormones, Androcur® 50mg may slow or stop the growth of cancer. Androcur® 50mg may also be used in combination with other medicines or following surgical removal of the testes to treat side effects such as “hot flushes” or “sweats” and to prevent any initial worsening of the disease.
Androcur® 50mg is also used to reduce abnormal sex drive in men. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about why Androcur® 50mg has been prescribed for you. Androcur® 50mg is available only with a doctor's prescription.
What does Androcur® 50mg look like?
Androcur® 50mg tablets are white, round tablets, scored on one side with “BV” and a hexagon marking on the other side, presented in blisters containing 20 or 50 tablets.
How is Androcur 50mg given?
Swallow the tablets whole with some liquid after meals.
Take your medicine after meals at about the same time each day to maximise effect and to help you remember when to take them.
Continue taking your medicine for as long as your doctor tells you. This medicine helps to control your condition, but does not cure it. It is important to keep taking your medicine even if you feel well.
What are the common side effects?
Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are taking Androcur® 50mg. All medicines can have side effects. Sometimes they are serious, most of the time they are not. You may need medical treatment if you get some of the side effects.
Do not be alarmed by the following lists of side effects. You may not experience any of them.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist to answer any questions you may have.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you notice any of the following and they worry you:
- tiredness, fatigue
- weight change
- headache
- depressed mood
- nausea and other gastrointestinal complaints
- decreased sexual drive
- breast pain, change in breast size, breast swelling and/or tenderness
- breast enlargement in men
- hot flushes, sweating
- shortness of breath
- osteoporosis.
If you were fertile before treatment, Androcur® 50mg will normally prevent sperm production in men. In men, fertility is usually regained within a few months of discontinuing therapy. In men Androcur® 50mg will also normally result in the inability to get or maintain an erection (impotence).
What are the less common side effects?
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you notice anything that is making you feel unwell. Other side effects not listed may happen in some people.
Tell your doctor immediately or go to an Emergency Department at your nearest hospital if you notice any of the following:
- yellowing of the skin and/or eyes
- light-coloured bowel motions
- dark coloured urine
- severe upper abdominal pain
- vomiting blood or material that looks like coffee grounds
- bleeding from the back passage
- black sticky bowel motions (stools) or bloody diarrhoea
- sudden severe headache
- loss of vision
- loss of coordination
- slurred speech
- shortness of breath
- chest pain
- numbness
- heat or swelling in the arms and legs
The above list includes serious side effects that may require medical attention or hospitalisation. Serious side effects are rare.
Reference
Disclaimer
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia develops materials based on best available evidence and takes advice from recognised experts in the field in developing such resource; however it cannot guarantee and assumes no legal responsibility for the currency or completeness of the information.
