Your Complete Guide to Truqap Breast Cancer Therapy
women’s health
One of the most common cancers affecting women, specifically, is breast cancer.
In decades past, a breast cancer diagnosis may have been a sobering terminal diagnosis in nearly every case. Today, with the latest cancer therapies available to most people, breast cancer patients may have the ability to partner with their healthcare teams and work toward long-term cancer remission.
Truqap, one of the more recent entries in breast cancer therapy, can make a big difference for today’s patients. But tackling cancer care can be confusing, to say the least.
What makes Truqap different from any other treatment—and what do you need to know before getting started with this therapy?
Here’s the quick answer: Truqap is a targeted breast cancer therapy.
According to Dr. Brynna Connor, M.D., a board-certified family medicine physician who specializes in regenerative medicine, “Targeted therapy is a newer type of cancer treatment that uses drugs that are directed at specific protein targets that help cancer cells grow and live longer. Targeted drugs treat cancer by killing or slowing the growth of breast cancer cells.”
But that’s not all.
In this helpful guide, we’ll cover the costs, side effects and basic administration of Truqap—along with information about its most common alternatives.
What Is Truqap and How Does It Work?
Truqap (capivasertib) is a new type of cancer therapy.
Truqap works by targeting specific proteins in the AKT pathway (a signaling pathway that tends to become overactive in cancer cells) that help cancer cells grow and survive. This is a more focused, possibly less detrimental, form of cancer therapy that can be extremely effective without the life-changing side effects of traditional alternatives.
Patients can also take Truqap in conjunction with another medication, Faslodex (fulvestrant), to treat a form of advanced hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that can sometimes be more difficult to treat.
Some data shows that a combination of Truqap and fulvestrant keeps cancer from spreading or growing over twice as long than just fulvestrant, taken alone.
If you or a loved one is dealing with a particularly stubborn form of cancer, options like Truqap and its associated therapies may be worth considering.
Is Truqap Considered Chemotherapy?
Often, “cancer treatment” gets conflated with “chemotherapy.”
This can make sense. Especially for people who have not had first-hand experience with cancer, it’s easy to simply be aware of chemotherapy as a primary cancer treatment, then extrapolate the term to cover other forms of cancer treatment, too.
With the last few years of medical advances to work with, today’s pharmaceutical researchers have been able to create therapies that work very differently from the “blunt weapon” chemotherapies that have dominated the cancer treatment field.
Truqap isn’t a traditional form of chemotherapy, and this is important for a few key reasons.
Let’s take a look at the differences between targeted therapies like Truqap and traditional chemotherapies:
Chemotherapy affects all rapidly dividing cells. This includes cancer cells, of course, but it can also harm other fast-growing materials in our bodies, like hair. (This is why cancer patients tend to shave their heads shortly after beginning treatment.)
Chemotherapy can also lead to nausea and fatigue as it eradicates both cancer cells and cells important for normal body functions.
Targeted therapies affect mainly cells that have specific mutations, like cancer cells.
When patients take this type of therapy, it’s far less likely that their normal healthy cells will be impacted.
There are a lot of benefits that come with opting for targeted therapy over a more widespread approach.
For example, patients who undergo targeted therapies may experience a higher quality of life when compared to those undergoing chemotherapy because of the reduced side effects.
This can also help increase adherence to treatment—which, in turn, tends to result in better treatment outcomes.
What Are the Benefits of Truqap for Breast Cancer?
There are many benefits that come with Truqap for breast cancer.
But before we talk about specific benefits, let’s set the scene.
Patients who are battling advanced, aggressive types of breast cancer may not have very many effective options to pursue.
This is especially the case when HR+, HER2-negative breast cancer has progressed even after a patient has tried hormone therapy.
Truqap comes with practical benefits for people dealing with this type of advanced cancer.
For example, the benefits of Truqap as a breast cancer therapy include:
More time.Studies are showing that Truqap can lengthen the period of time during which a patient’s cancer does not get worse.
For patients with particularly powerful forms of breast cancer, time helps increase the chances of a better prognosis, prolonged life expectancy, and more time for treatments to provide even better results.
Improved outcomes. Faslodex, a hormone therapy, is often used on its own to treat breast cancer, since it blocks estrogen receptors on fast-proliferating cancer cells.
When used in concert with Truqap, the combination delivers better outcomes than hormone therapy alone.
Convenient administration. Many traditional cancer treatments are administered via IV or other methods that require specialized oversight and an appointment at a healthcare facility.
Truqap is an oral medication. It’s easy to take, and easy to incorporate into a relatively normal routine.
When patients opt for Truqap, they may be able to spend less time in clinics or hospitals as they manage their cancer care.
In addition to these benefits, the simple fact that Truqap (as a targeted therapy) has a reduced risk of traditional cancer therapy side effects can make a world of difference to people undergoing intense treatments during a stressful period of their lives.
Truqap Side Effects: What to Expect
Of course, Truqap doesn’t come with zero side effects.
There are a few effects that may come with Truqap administration, especially as your body gets used to the drug. Usually, these side effects are mild or easy to manage.
Common side effects of Truqap include:
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Skin rashes (or other dermatological reactions)
- Increased blood glucose levels—which may require specific monitoring in diabetic or prediabetic patients
While symptoms like fatigue and weakness should not be discounted and can certainly impact your daily activities, with planning and supportive care, it’s possible to mitigate these side effects and enjoy a relatively high quality of life during cancer care.
Taking Truqap over an extended period of time may result in some longer-term effects, too. These can include kidney change function and liver issues, which may require consistent monitoring.
Weight gain and loss can happen, too, with resultant effects on the body’s metabolism.
Does Truqap Cause Hair Loss?
While we’ve touted the ability of Truqap to help patients sidestep typical cancer treatment side effects, there’s one side effect that may be worth calling out specifically.
What about hair loss?
Truqap is much less likely than traditional chemotherapy to cause hair loss. Since it’s a targeted therapy, it focuses its efforts on specific cancer cells—not just every rapidly dividing cell in its wake.
Talk to your doctor about the specific side effects that you need to know about, but, in general, Truqap is less likely to cause hair loss.
Truqap Price: What Can Patients Expect to Pay?
Cancer therapies are notoriously expensive.
There are a few reasons for this—not least, the fact that often, patients need to take more than one cancer medication. (In this case, Truqap is often paired with Faslodex). This will make the overall cost of treatment increase.
In the United States, the average price for a bottle of 64 tablets of Truqap is upwards of $24,000.00.
That’s a lot of money.
(Worse, insurance may or may not step in to help you handle that obligation.)
If you’re looking for an alternate option (and steep savings!), international and online Canadian pharmacies may be able to get you what you need.
Here, through NorthWestPharmacy.com, you can buy that same amount of brand-name Truqap for $12,000.00—and savings of up to 50%.
Truqap Alternatives: What Other Breast Cancer Therapies Are Out There?
Truqap can connect breast cancer patients with incredible benefits, but it’s not necessarily for everyone. If you or your doctor is interested in exploring your other options, it’s a good idea to know what’s out there.
Here are just a few of the most common alternatives to Truqap:
Piqray (Alpelisib)
Piqray is a type of cancer treatment referred to as a “PI3K inhibitor.” It can help to slow down the spread and growth of cancer cells. Often, it’s used in combination with Faslodex to treat HR+, HER2-negative breast cancer in patients who have a PIK3CA gene mutation.
In some cases, Piqray can be a very apt alternative to Truqap, especially if you’ve tried Truqap and it doesn’t work for you.
However, Piqray does come with its own slate of possible side effects. These can include high blood sugar, skin rashes, and diarrhea.
You can buy brand-name Piqray through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $300.00 per pill.
Faslodex (Fulvestrant)
Faslodex should be a familiar name at this point!
This medication is an estrogen receptor antagonist that has, for years, been a standard treatment for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
Faslodex works by binding to estrogen receptors on cancer cells and making it impossible for estrogen to bind those receptors—which effectively cuts off further cancer growth (for those cells). Faslodex can be used on its own, but it’s often paired with Truqap or Piqray to improve outcomes.
It doesn’t come with as many side effects as traditional chemotherapy, but it is a medication that requires visits to a healthcare facility, as it’s administered via injection.
Verzenio (Abemaciclib)
Verzenio is a type of cancer treatment drug called a “CDK 4/6 inhibitor.” As its name suggests, it works by inhibiting a type of protein—a CDK protein—that helps cancer cells proliferate.
Verzenio can be used on its own, but it’s often combined with hormone therapies like Faslodex to treat aggressive breast cancer.
When used as part of a cocktail aimed at treating breast cancer, Verzenio can help slow down cancer progression to give the patient and their treatment more time to work.
Verzenio, like all medications, can trigger side effects. Common effects include fatigue, diarrhea, and low white blood cell counts.
You can buy brand-name Verzenio through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $125.00 per tablet.
Ibrance (Palbociclib)
If Verzenio doesn’t work for you and your health goals, a similar option in the CDK 4/6 inhibitor family is Ibrance. Much like Verzenio, it inhibits CDK 4/6 proteins and helps slow down the rate at which cancer cells grow.
Usually, Ibrance is used alongside hormone therapies like Faslodex or letrozole. It, like Truqap, is an oral drug, which is a bit more convenient for many patients when compared to IV cancer medications.
Ibrance can cause some side effects, ranging from low blood cell counts to fatigue and nausea.
You can buy brand-name Ibrance through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $460.00 per tablet.
Kisqali (Ribociclib)
Kisqali is another CDK 4/6 inhibitor. It, like Verzenio and Ibrance, works by disrupting the growth cycle of cancer cells, which makes it much more difficult for them to divide and spread.
When used alongside hormone therapy like letrozole or Faslodex, Kisqali can help give breast cancer patients more time to receive benefits from their treatment.
However, Kisqali does come with some potential side effects. These can include low blood cell counts, fatigue, and nausea. Your doctor will likely want to monitor your blood just to make sure this drug is working hard for you as you undergo treatment.
You can buy brand-name Kisqali through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $130.00 per tablet.
Truqap for Breast Cancer: A Quick FAQ
Here’s a quick rundown of the top questions we see asked about this powerful breast cancer treatment.
What is Truqap?
Truqap is a type of targeted cancer therapy that can treat advanced HR+, HER2-negative breast cancer. When taken strategically as part of a cancer care regimen, it can reduce cancer cell growth by inhibiting the AKT pathway.
Is Truqap Chemotherapy?
No, Truqap is not traditional chemotherapy.
Instead, it’s a type of targeted therapy that (instead of affecting all rapidly growing cells) just focuses on specific cancer cells.
What are Truqap’s Side Effects?
Truqap’s side effects can include:
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Diarrhea
- Skin rashes
- Elevated blood glucose levels.
If you’re worried about these or other symptoms while you’re taking Truqap, speak with your doctor at once.
Need to Buy Cost-Effective Cancer Medications like Truqap?
Managing cancer care for yourself or a loved one is world-changingly difficult.
That only escalates when you need to figure out how to afford a medication that could be extremely beneficial for your care.
Especially in the United States, obtaining necessary medications can seem impossible—particularly when you need to start treatment soon, or when a loved one’s future is on the line.
That’s where we come in.
Through NorthWestPharmacy.com, you can buy accessible cancer therapies, including Truqap, and other Canadian drugs and international ones for reasonable prices. If you’re interested in learning more, chat with our team of knowledgeable, friendly customer service representatives. We can help you place an order online or over the phone in minutes!
Our team looks forward to supporting you and your healthcare journey.
