Neulasta® is a prescription medication often referred as a white
cell booster as it stimulate the production of white cells in the bone marrow.
These are released into the blood stream increasing and maintaining the white
blood count and hence reducing your risk of infection. A low white cell count
can also delay your chemotherapy or keep you from getting your full dose. This
white cell booster therefore gives you a better chance of being able to stick to
your chemotherapy schedule, which most doctors agree is a great advantage to the
success of your treatment. Several well conducted international studies, listed
below have proven the effectiveness of Neulasta over no medication at all or the
previously commonly used white cell booster Neupogen:.
- Crawford J, Ozer H, Stoller R, et al. Reduction by granulocyte
colony-stimulating factor of fever and neutropenia induced by chemotherapy
in patients with small-cell lung cancer. N Engl J Med.
1991;325:164-170.
- Bertini M, Freilone R, Vitolo U, et al. P-VEBEC: a new 8-weekly schedule
with or without rG-CSF for elderly patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma (NHL). Ann Oncol. 1994;5:895-900.
- de Graaf H, Willemse PHB, Bong SB, et al. Dose intensity of standard
adjuvant CMF with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor for premenopausal
patients with node-positive breast cancer. Oncology. 1996;53:289-294.
- Wujcik D. Infection. In: Groenwald SL, Goodman M, Frogge MH, Yarbro CH,
eds. Cancer Symptom Management. Boston, Mass: Jones and Bartlett
Publishers; 1986:289-304.
- The Merck Manual of Medical Information—Home Edition Online. Available
at: http://www.merck.com/pubs/.
Accessed February 15, 2002.
- Link BK, Budd GT, Scott S, et al. Delivering adjuvant chemotherapy to
women with early-stage breast carcinoma: current patterns of care.
Cancer. 2001;92:1354-1367.
- Lyman GH, Dale DC, Crawford J. Incidence and predictors of low
dose-intensity in adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy: a nationwide study of
commmunity practices. J Clin Oncol. 2003;21:4524-4531.
- Lyman GH, Kuderer NM, Djulbegovic B. Prophylactic granulocyte
colony-stimulating factor in patients receiving dose-intensive cancer
chemotherapy: a meta-analysis. Am J Med. 2002;112:406-411.
- Bodey GP, Buckley M, Sathe YS, Freireich EJ. Quantitative relationships
between circulating leukocytes and infection in patients with acute
leukemia. Ann Intern Med. 1966;64:328-340.
- Bonadonna G, Valagussa P, Moliterni A, Zambetti M, Brambilla C. Adjuvant
cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil in node-positive breast
cancer: the results of 20 years of follow-up. N Engl J Med.
1995;332:901-906.
- Dixon DO, Neilan B, Jones SE, et al. Effect of age on therapeutic outcome
in advanced diffuse histiocytic lymphoma: the Southwest Oncology Group
experience. J Clin Oncol. 1986;4:295-305.
- Hryniuk WM. The importance of dose intensity in the outcome of
chemotherapy. In: DeVita VT, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, eds. Important
Advances in Oncology. Philadelphia, Pa: JB Lippincott; 1988:121-141.
- Kwak LW, Halpern J, Olshen RA, et al. Prognostic significance of actual
dose intensity in diffuse large-cell lymphoma: results of a tree-structured
survival analysis. J Clin Oncol. 1990;8:963-977.
- Data on file, Amgen.
- Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim) prescribing information, Amgen.
- Holmes FA, O’Shaughnessy JA, Vukelja S, et al. Blinded, randomized,
multicenter study to evaluate single administration pegfilgrastim once per
cycle versus daily filgrastim as an adjunct to chemotherapy in patients with
high-risk stage II or stage III/IV breast cancer. J Clin Oncol.
2002;20:727-731.
- Green M, Koelbl H, Baselga J. A randomized double-blind multicenter phase
III study of fixed-dose single-administration pegfilgrastim versus daily
filgrastim in patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. Ann Oncol.
2003;14:29-35.
- Smith TJ et al. Can the Addition of Prophylactic Filgrastim Be Considered
Cost Effective in Early Breast Cancer Patients Treated With Epirubicin and
Cyclophosphamide? J Clin Oncol. 2006;24:3187-3205
- National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Clin Pract Guide Oncol [serial
online]. Version 1.2007. Available at: http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/myeloid_growth.pdf.
Accessed May 24, 2007.
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