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Dosage of Androcur

1.Dosage

Typical treatment starts with 1 BID and can be increased to 2 BIDs if needed, or even 2 TIDs in a short period of time. The drug should be swallowed with a small amount of liquid after meals. 

When satisfactory results are achieved, the lowest possible dose should be tried to maintain the efficacy, usually twice a day, half a tablet is sufficient. When establishing a maintenance dose or stopping the dose, the dose should not be abrupt but should be tapered gradually, with daily doses reduced by 1 tablet or preferably half a tablet at intervals of several weeks. 

In order to stabilize the therapeutic effect, it is necessary to prolong the use of the drug for a certain period of time and, if possible, at the same time use psychotherapeutic methods. 

2.Inoperable prostate cancer

Orchiectomy is done to eliminate the effects of adrenocortical androgens

2 tablets 1-2 times daily (i.e., 100-200 mg). Without orchiectomy: 2 tablets 2 to 3 times a day (i.e., 200 to 300 mg). The therapeutic dose should not be changed or interrupted after symptoms have changed or decreased. To reduce the initial increase in male sex hormones when treated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (LH-Rha), start with 2 tablets 2 times a day (i.e., 200 mg) for 5 to 7 days, followed by 2 tablets 2 times a day (200 mg total) with an LH-RHA for 3 to 4 weeks.

To eliminate the effect of adrenocortical androgens in LH-Rha therapy

For continuous anti-androgen therapy, take 2 tablets each time, 1-2 times a day (i.e., 100-200 mg). 

3. Signs of severe virilization in women

For example, very severe hirsutism, severe androgen-dependent alopecia, which eventually leads to baldness (severe androgenetic alopecia), often accompanied by severe acne and/or seborrhea. Treatment should be started on the first day of the menstrual cycle (i.e., the first day of bleeding) in women of childbearing age, and only women with amenorrhea can start drug therapy immediately. In this case, the first day of treatment is considered to be the first day of the cycle, and the following recommended usage is routinely observed. 

On days 1-10 of the cycle, 2 tablets of this medicine are swallowed daily with water after meals, in addition, these women also take preparations containing estrogen and progestin, such as 1 tablet of oral contraceptives per day from days 1-21 of the menstrual cycle, to provide the necessary contraceptive protection and stabilize the menstrual cycle.

Women receiving cyclic combination therapy should take the drug at a fixed time each day. If the fixed time of taking the drug is exceeded by 12 hours, the contraceptive effect of the current cycle may be reduced, but this drug and oral contraceptives should still be continued as directed to avoid early bleeding in the current cycle. 

4.Women undergoing cyclic combination therapy

Missing pills are negligible, but non-hormonal contraceptive methods should be added for the remainder of the cycle (except for safe period methods and thermometric methods). After 21 days of treatment, there is a 7-day observation period after discontinuation of the drug, during which withdrawal bleeding occurs, and the next cycle of combination therapy is started exactly 4 weeks after the start of the first course of treatment, i.e., on the same day of the week, regardless of whether the bleeding stops. If no bleeding occurs during discontinuation of the drug, the necessary diagnostic tests should be performed. After the clinical symptoms have improved, the daily dose of this drug can be reduced to 1 or half a tablet within the first 10 days of combination therapy, and oral contraceptives alone may be sufficient. Postmenopausal or hysterectomy patients can use this drug alone. Depending on the severity of symptoms, the average dose of the drug should be 1 to 1/2 tablets once a day for 21 days, followed by 7 days of discontinuation.

from Bayer，2021.05