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Spotlight on Pegfilgrastim in Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia

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Abstract

Pegfilgrastim (Neulasta®), the sustained-duration form of filgrastim (recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor [G-CSF]), is created by the addition of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) moiety to filgrastim. Its approved indication in the US is to decrease the incidence of infection, as manifested by febrile neutropenia, in patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy.

A single subcutaneous injection of pegfilgrastim once per chemotherapy cycle was more effective than placebo as an adjunct to moderately myelosuppressive chemotherapy for breast cancer, no less effective than daily injections of filgrastim as an adjunct to highly myelosuppressive chemotherapy for breast cancer, and as effective as daily filgrastim as an adjunct to chemotherapy for lymphoma (predominantly non-Hodgkin lymphoma [NHL]) and acute myeloid leukemia. Pegfilgrastim has also successfully supported delivery of dose-dense chemotherapy, stem cell mobilization, and stem cell transplantation after high-dose chemotherapy in patients with non-myeloid or myeloid malignancies. By offering a convenient alternative to daily filgrastim, once-per-cycle administration of pegfilgrastim has the potential to simplify the management of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, further improve patient health-related quality of life, and reduce total treatment costs in breast cancer and NHL, and possibly other cancer settings. Pegfilgrastim should, likewise, permit simplification of G-CSF-based stem cell mobilization and transplantation procedures.

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Acknowledgments

The full text article in American Journal of Cancer 2005; 4 (4): 255–74 was reviewed by: R.A. Beveridge, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Virginia, USA; P.S. Carey, Sunderland Royal Infirmary, Sunderland, England; D.C. Dale, University of Washington, Department of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA; D.B. Daniel, Duke University Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA; M.D. Green, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; E. Kubista, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; and F. Willis, St. George’s Hospital, London, England.

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  1. Adis International Inc., 770 Township Line Road, Suite 300, Yardley, PA, 19067, USA

    James E. Frampton & Gillian M. Keating

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  1. James E. Frampton
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  2. Gillian M. Keating
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Correspondence to James E. Frampton.

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This spotlight is derived from abstract and summary text of an Adis Drug Evaluation originally published in full in American Journal of Cancer 2005; 4 (4): 255–74. Reviewers of the original full text article are listed in the Acknowledgments section

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Frampton, J.E., Keating, G.M. Spotlight on Pegfilgrastim in Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia. BioDrugs 19, 405–407 (2005). https://doi.org/10.2165/00063030-200519060-00008

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