Tamoxifen brands

Hi All 

I started on tamoxifen 4 Days ago so early days. But  all seems well at the minute. My brand is maylan. So bad that these can change and disrupt how you are. 
Ive been told 10 years. I’m 53. Not had radium therapy yet.  Told I would hear from oncologist in next couple of weeks 

x 

I have had milpharm and am now on tillomed. I can't tell the difference between the two. The only thing I have noticed is that my menopausal symptoms are slightly more in terms of night sweats in particular. I haven't heard any people comment about brand of tamoxifen being an issue in the same way that they have with letrozole or anastrazole. Am hoping that means tamoxifen brand doesn't matter too much!

Thanks for your reply. My BcN told me that some people have more symptoms with different brands.  But at the minute mine seem ok  so hopefully I can stay on same brand. 
but hopefully it doesn’t matter too much with tamoxifen x 

I recently collected my 4th prescription of Tamoxifen and it's yet again another new brand. I've had 4 brands now in 4 months. Milpharm, Wockhardt, Mylan and now Tilomed. Each time I feel a real anxiety about how it might affect me, but thankfully I haven't actually noticed much difference. I have had times where I have more sweats and flushes but could well be related to caffeine intake or the odd alcoholic drink rather than the Tamoxifen. Hard to know. Shame we don't have a choice about which brand we get. Would certainly save me some worry! I take some comfort in knowing there are so many of us going through the same thing..

Thank you that’s reassuring that you have been ok with these. You would hope one pharmacist would obtain the same product. 

One week in for me so still early days x 

Please ask your pharmacist to provide you with the one that suits you best. You may need to give an extra few days notice, but you should be able to have the one you want. 

Hi all. I started Tamoxifen Nov 2022. I was issues with MYLAN. I managed to get my second prescription the same but the third one was a different brand. I had to search burrows chemists to find a pack of Milan. Such a faff. Now i’m due another prescription and my pharmacist has called to say they haven’t got Mylan. 

I had a chat with the meds manager at my doctors today. She agreed to issue my prescription for 2 months instead of 1. But wouldn’t go to three months as o requested. She was shocked that you couldn’t request the same brand and she spoke to the local  pharmacist to clarify.

The upshot is you can request your favoured brand but the pharmacies aren’t able to pass on the request. They will receive whatever the wholesale provider is issuing that month. I could be on a merry go round rotation of different brands for the next 5 years. 

the pharmacist kindly offered to order 12 months worth of meds in one go to ensure I received the same brand . But there’s no knowing what brand this will be until it arrives. I’ll feel completely obliged to take it .

I have added a big online pharmacy the same question - they’ve replied stating they’ve passed the query onto their procurement team. Fingers crossed. 

The forums are full of tamoxifen brand conversations going back years. I’m wondering if and how this could be made easier for those of us on it. 

has anyone had any luck in this area? I believe Teva is similar to Mylan.

I’m thinking of writing to Women’s Hour to get them onboard!!!! (Sad I know) 

I might be wrong but I believe if your GP names the brand on the prescription that is the one they have to get you. You might however have to scoot around for a chemist that can get it. I have the brand named exemestane Aromasin and I always receive it even though the pharmacist has a few times had to look quite hard. Good Luck x

Hi

It’s good to hear that you’re able to get the same meds each time, it must be a relief. You sound like you have a very good pharmacy. 

unfortunately the pharmacist isn’t able to request a specific brand from the supplier. So it doesn’t matter what my GP requests - the pharmacy get sent what is currently available.

I’ve spent hours physically trawling round chemist’s and waiting on hold. It’s so time consuming. I guess I’m going to have to bite the bullet and take a new brand. 

Hi Wajdi, I've had numerous different brands of tamoxifen over the last year and the side effects vary so much. I now keep a list of brands to avoid. The brand I find suits me the best and gives the least side effects is relonchem. I now ring up the pharmacies before hand to see which brand they have in stock . Hope this helps. Take care.