Raloxifene side effects

Raloxifene side effects include bloody or cloudy urine painful urination pain in chest, arm or leg (rare) coughing blood (rare) sore/dry throat trouble in swallowing body aches cramping skin rash vaginal itching migraine headache (rare) and loss of speech, vision or coordination (rare). There is also an increased risk of blood clot formation (i.e., deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and retinal embolism) in patients with a history of these conditions if treated with Raloxifene. 

Raloxifene is actually used for the treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Also, if raloxifene has been shown to have any effect on uterine leiomyomas in vitro and in animal models, to date no concrete efficacy has been demonstrated in normally cycled premenopausal women. Moreover, the addition of raloxifene to GnRH-a administration can be useful for limiting GnRH-a-related side effects and increasing the rate of reduction in tumor size. 

The most commonly observed side effect in patients taking raloxifene or tamoxifen was hot flashes (Agnusdei 1999 Muchmore 2000 Miller 2002). In the study by Mounts et al. (2002) in breast cancer patients < 56 years of age, the most frequent complaints during tamoxifen treatment were hot flashes (85%) and disturbed sleep (55%), whereas in the CORE study (Martino et al. 2004) hot flashes were observed in 12.5% of the raloxifene group vs. 6.9% in the placebo group. 

In the pharmaceutical synthesis industry, piperidine is used in some drugs such as budipine (antiparkinsonian drug), raloxifene (used in the prevention of osteoporosis), minoxidil (an oral drug to treat high blood pressure). Minoxidil has the interesting side effect of hair growth and reverses hair loss. A two percent minoxidil solution can be used to treat this condition. 

As indicated, raloxifene may also reduce the incidence of breast and uterine cancers.20,57 This drug may cause several bothersome side effects, including hot flashes, joint or muscle pain, depression, insomnia, and gastrointestinal disturbances. More serious problems with raloxifene may be indicated by symptoms... 

Raloxifene is a selective oestrogen receptor modulator (SERM). Its role in osteoporosis is to slow down bone loss. It has been shown to increase bone density by 0.5-1%. It is licensed for the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Its side-effects include a small increase in the frequency of hot flushes, leg cramps, peripheral oedema and thrombosis risk (Tanna 2005). 

Estrogens induced cardioprotection seems to involve the ERa receptor. In fact, hearts from estrogens receptor-alpha knock out mice were sensitive to ischemia and reperfusion injury". Furthermore, estrogens receptor modulators which lack some of the estrogens side effects are shown to be cardioprotective raloxifene limited infarct size and incidence of ventricular fibrillation in an in vivo canine model of coronary occlusion and reperfusion. This effect was attenuated by the inhibition of NO synthase (NOS) or calcium activated potassium channels and completely abolished by both blocking NOS and Ca2+-activated K+ channels. Ischemia and reperfusion induced p38 MAPK activation was also attenuated in raloxifene treated hearts.12... 

Because raloxifene only reduces the risk of vertebral fracture, there is a need to identify agents that are effective at multiple skeletal sites with minimal side effects. The novel SERM HMR-3339 improves bone mineral density in adult ovariectomized rats at a variety of skeletal sites (e.g., lumbar spine, tibia, and femur), including those sites composed of cortical bone (118,119). An additional benefit afforded by HMR-3339 is a reduction in total... 

---