Arsenic trioxide Accord

Arsenic trioxide Accord is used to treat adults (aged 18 years or over) with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), 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 Accord is used in: - Patients with newly diagnosed low or intermediate risk APL where it is used together with the medicine all-trans-retinoic acid. - 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 Accord contains the active substance arsenic trioxide and is a ‘generic medicine’. This means that Arsenic trioxide Accord contains the same active substance and works in the same way as a ‘reference medicine’ already authorised in the EU called Trisenox.