Arsenic trioxide medac

Arsenic trioxide medac is used to treat adults (aged 18 years or over) with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL). APL is a rare form of leukaemia (cancer of the white blood cells) caused by a genetic ‘translocation’ (when there is a swap of genes between two chromosomes). The translocation affects the way the white blood cells grow, and as a result they lack the ability to use retinoic acid (vitamin A). Patients with APL are normally treated with retinoids (substances derived from vitamin A). Arsenic trioxide medac is used in: - patients with newly diagnosed low or intermediate risk APL where it is used together with the medicine all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA); - patients with APL whose disease has not responded to previous treatment with a retinoid and cancer medicines, or when their disease has come back after this type of treatment. Arsenic trioxide medac is a ‘generic medicine’. This means that  Arsenic trioxide medac contains the same active substance and works in the same way as a ‘reference medicine’ already authorised in the EU called Trisenox. Arsenic trioxide medac contains the active substance arsenic trioxide.