Plasma concentrations of medroxyprogesterone acetate and megesterol acetate during long-term follow-up in patients treated for metastatic breast cancer.

A total of 32 patients with metastatic breast cancer responding with at least disease stabilization to treatment with two commercially available preparations of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) or one preparation of megestrol acetate (MA) were followed for their plasma concentrations. The MPA and MA were measured by HPLC. MPA from Upjohn and Farmitalia was given to 12 patients (median age, 61 years; median follow-up, 20 weeks) and 8 patients (54 years, 16 weeks), respectively, on a schedule of 1000 mg daily i.m. for 10 days followed by 200 mg t.i.d.p.o. for the remainder of the treatment course. The peak concentrations (means, 163 vs 97 ng/ml), the time to peak levels (medians, 3 vs 10 weeks), and the areas under the concentration curves from time 0 to 24 weeks (means, 2400 vs 1868 ng/ml X weeks) were significantly different in the respective treatment groups (t-test; significance level, 0.05). MA from Bristol-Myers was administered orally in one daily dose of 160 mg throughout the treatment course in 12 patients (median age, 51 years; median follow-up, 20 weeks). A mean MA peak concentration of 218 ng/ml was reached after a median of 7 days. Plateau plasma levels were higher for MA than MPA.