Bicalutamide

Bicalutamide is a prescription medication used in combination with another medication to treat prostate cancer that has spread to other areas of the body. Bicalutamide belongs to a group of drugs called antiandrogens which work by blocking the effects of certain hormones.

This medication comes in tablet form and is taken once daily, with or without food.

Common side effects of bicalutamide include hot flashes, weakness, and constipation.

Bicalutamide is a prescription medication used in combination with another medication to treat prostate cancer that has spread to other areas of the body. 

This medication may be prescribed for other uses. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Bicalutamide may be found in some form under the following brand names:

• Casodex

Bicalutamide can cause serious side effects.

Get medical help right away, if you have:

• Trouble breathing with or without a cough or fever. Some people who take bicalutamide get an inflammation in the lungs called interstitial lung disease.
• An allergic reaction. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include itching of the skin, hives (raised bumps), swelling of the face, lips, tongue, throat, or trouble swallowing.
• Yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice), dark urine, right upper stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, tiredness, loss of appetite, chills, fever, whole body pain. These may be symptoms of liver damage.
• Poor blood sugar control can happen in people who take bicalutamide in combination with LHRH medicines.
• Enlargement of breasts (gynecomastia) and breast pain.

The most common side effects of bicalutamide include:

• hot flashes, or short periods of feeling warm and sweating
• whole body pain in your back, pelvis, stomach
• feeling weak
• constipation
• infection
• nausea
• swelling in your ankles, legs or feet
• diarrhea
• blood in your urine
• waking from sleep to urinate at night
• a decrease in red blood cells (anemia)
• feeling dizzy

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.

These are not all the possible side effects of bicalutamide. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist.

Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements. Bicalutamide and other medicines may affect each other causing side effects. Bicalutamide may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how bicalutamide works.

Know the medicines you take. Keep a list of your medicines with you to show your healthcare providers when you get a new medicine.

Do not take bicalutamide if:

• you are a woman
• you are allergic to any of the ingredients in bicalutamide

Do not drive, operate machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how bicalutamide affects you.

Medicines can interact with certain foods. In some cases, this may be harmful and your doctor may advise you to avoid certain foods. In the case of bicalutamide, there are no specific foods that you must exclude from your diet when receiving bicalutamide.

Before receiving bicalutamide, tell your doctor if you:

• are pregnant or think you may be pregnant
• have liver problems
• take a medicine to thin your blood. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist if you are not sure if your medicine is a blood thinner.
• have diabetes (poor blood sugar control has been reported in people taking bicalutamide in combination with LHRH medicines)

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements. 

Bicalutamide is not approved for use in women. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

There are no studies in pregnant women using bicalutamide. If this medication is used during pregnancy, it may cause harm to your unborn baby. 

Bicalutamide is not approved for use in women. It is unknown if bicalutamide is excreted in human breast milk or if it will harm your nursing baby. 

• Take bicalutamide at the same time every day exactly as prescribed.
• Your treatment with bicalutamide should start at the same time as your treatment with the LHRH medicine.
• If you miss a dose do not take an extra dose, take the next dose at your regular time. Do not take 2 doses at the same time.
• Bicalutamide can be taken with or without food.
• If you take too much bicalutamide, call your healthcare provider or Poison Control Center or go to the nearest hospital emergency room right away.
• Do not stop taking bicalutamide unless your healthcare provider tells you.
• Your healthcare provider may do blood tests while you take bicalutamide.
• Your prostate cancer may get worse while taking bicalutamide in combination with LHRH medicines. Regular monitoring of your prostate cancer with your healthcare provider is important to determine if your disease is worse.

Take bicalutamide exactly as prescribed. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully.

The recommended bicalutamide dose is 50 mg once daily.

If you take too much bicalutamide, call your local Poison Control Center or seek emergency medical attention.

Store bicalutamide between 20°C-25°C (68°F-77°F).

Keep bicalutamide and all medicines out of the reach of children

Medicines are sometimes prescribed for purposes other than those listed in a patient information leaflet. Do not use bicalutamide for a condition for which it was not prescribed. Do not give bicalutamide to other people, even if they have the same symptoms that you have. It may harm them.