Neupogen

Description

Filgrastim, pegfilgrastim, and sargramostim are synthetic (man-made) versions of substances naturally produced in your body. These substances, called colony stimulating factors, help the bone marrow to make new white blood cells.

When certain cancer medicines fight your cancer cells, they also affect those white blood cells that fight infection. To help prevent infections when these cancer medicines are used, colony stimulating factors may be given. Colony stimulating factors also may be used to help the bone marrow recover after bone marrow transplantation and stem cell transplantation.

Once a medicine has been approved for marketing for a certain use, experience may show that it also is useful for other medical problems. Although not specifically included in the product labeling, colony stimulating factors are used in certain patients with the following medical conditions:

• Failure or delay of myeloid engraftment after hemapoietic stem cell transplantation
• Myelodysplastic syndromes
• Neutropenia, AIDS-associated
• Neutropenia, drug-induced

Common Brand Names:

Leukine

Neulasta

Neupogen