Palbociclib is a targeted medicine for breast cancer that is hormone-receptor-positive and HER2-negative and has spread or come back. It is always taken together with a hormone therapy — an aromatase inhibitor such as letrozole as first treatment, or fulvestrant after hormone therapy has stopped working — and it makes that hormone therapy work for longer.
It blocks two enzymes (CDK4 and CDK6) that cancer cells need to move through the cell-division cycle. It comes as capsules and as tablets: the capsules must be taken with food, the tablets can be taken with or without; otherwise they are the same medicine at the same doses.
Palbociclib is taken once a day for 21 days, then 7 days off, in 28-day cycles. Low white blood cells are the main side effect and are checked before each cycle and mid-way through the first two. It is a prescription-only medicine; a valid prescription must be provided at checkout.