Cyclophosphamide (kloh-foss-FAM-ah-mide) is used to treat certain types of cancer and autoimmune diseases. It’s often given in combination with other drugs.
Oxaliplatin can make you sensitive to the cold, so you should avoid exposing yourself to very cold temperatures while you’re getting the infusion or within 2 hours of it finishing.
Cyclophosphamide
Cyclophosphamide is an immunosuppressive drug that works by preventing the formation of new cells and inhibiting the movement of existing ones. It is used in severe forms of vasculitis and to treat certain cancers. Cyclophosphamide is also an important component of chemotherapy regimens used in the treatment of leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, lymphoma and sarcomas. It is injected directly into the bloodstream via intravenous infusion at a hospital or clinic. Cyclophosphamide is primarily excreted in the urine and bile as metabolites.
The use of cyclophosphamide is associated with significant side effects. It causes bone marrow suppression, which can result in a low number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. This decrease can lead to anemia, lower your body’s ability to fight infections and make you more susceptible to easy bruising and bleeding.
It is also known to cause kidney and bladder toxicity, which can be life-threatening. The risk of this toxicity is higher when the drug is given in high doses and for long durations. It is recommended that you drink at least 8-10 glasses (2-3 litres) of fluid each day during treatment to reduce the risk. In some cases, it may be necessary to give you a special medicine called mesna to help prevent severe bladder toxicity.
Other side effects include a low appetite, nausea and vomiting, mouth ulcers and hair loss. It can also decrease fertility in men and women, though this is usually temporary. Cyclophosphamide manufacturer has also been known to cause lung damage and scarring (pulmonary fibrosis) in some patients, which can take several years to develop.
It is advised that you do not start any new medications without discussing them with your rheumatology team first. It is also important that you attend all planned infusions and take the tablets exactly as prescribed, even if they don’t seem to be working at first. It is also important to avoid live vaccines such as measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox and yellow fever while taking cyclophosphamide, although the non-live Zostavax shingles vaccine can be safe to use with this medication.
Oxaliplatin
Oxaliplatin (pronounced ox-ali-platin) is a platinum-based chemotherapy drug that works to stop cancer cells from growing and to destroy them. It is given as an injection into a vein and it is usually used in combination with other drugs to treat advanced colon cancer and some other types of cancer. It is also being studied in the treatment of other kinds of cancers.
The most common side effect of oxaliplatin is nausea. This can start a few hours after treatment and last a few days. It is very important that you tell your doctor if you are feeling sick because they can give you very effective anti-sickness medication to prevent or reduce this side effect.
Another possible side effect of oxaliplatin can be a sore or itchy mouth. Your doctor or nurse will give you painkillers to help with this if needed. It is also important to drink lots of fluids while you are taking this drug because it can cause diarrhoea. Some people can get blurred vision with this drug too but this is not very common.
This drug can reduce the number of platelets in your blood which can make you more prone to bleeding and bruising. This is especially important to keep in mind if you have a bleeding disorder or if you are receiving any other treatments that can affect your blood platelet count. It is also important to tell your doctor if you have any unexplained bruising or bleeding.
A very serious but rare side effect of oxaliplatin manufacturer may be damage to your nerves which can lead to numbness and tingling in your hands and feet. This is a very serious side effect and you should seek medical attention immediately if it occurs.
Oxaliplatin can be harmful to the unborn baby and should not be used during pregnancy or if you are breastfeeding. It can also be harmful to your fertility in females and males of reproductive potential so talk to your doctor if this is a concern for you. This drug can also be harmful to your liver. If you have a history of heart problems, your doctor will check your blood pressure and do some other tests before giving you this drug.
Generic Drugs
Generic drugs are medicines that contain the same active ingredients as a brand-name drug and have been approved by the FDA to work the same way. They are also required to meet stringent FDA standards for strength, purity, quality and potency. In general, generic drugs are less expensive than their brand-name counterparts because they don’t have the same costs associated with research, patenting, development and marketing.
Generally, doctors can prescribe any brand or generic medication for their patients. However, some doctors prefer to stay with a specific brand medication if they’re unsure of the generic alternative or have concerns about a patient’s reaction to the drug. Others may be unable to switch medications due to a narrow therapeutic index, which is a safe range within which the medicine must be taken to ensure it works effectively.
For those individuals, it’s a good idea to ask their doctor for a generic prescription or to find out if the specific drug they require has a generic version available. This will help to lower their costs, especially if they have insurance that requires them to pay a higher co-pay for the brand name medication.
In some cases, the largest pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) and Group Purchasing Organizations have used their market power to force a “race to the bottom” on pricing without consideration for availability or quality. This has resulted in shortages, particularly for critical medicines that treat chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
The three largest pharmacy benefit managers and the four biggest Group Purchasing Organizations control 90 percent of the medical supply market, and they could ease drug shortages by prioritizing generic drugs over brand-name drugs. They can do so by making it mandatory that their clients accept a generic medication or by writing “do not substitute” on a prescription. They can also work with their customers and manufacturers to develop innovative ways to make medications more accessible and affordable to all. This is a key step toward improving our country’s health care system. By ensuring more people have access to life-saving medicines, we can make an enormous impact on the nation’s health and wellbeing.
Patient Access
Patient access is an increasingly important topic for healthcare and life science information, regulatory and competitive intelligence professionals to monitor. It involves closing the gap between patients and all of the various pieces of the healthcare puzzle: insurance, facilities, doctors, health records, clinical care and treatments.
In Ireland, for example, the previous Minister for Health signed into law Statutory Instrument SI 449 of 2015 Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Amendment Regulations which allows trained non-medical persons to administer six prescription-only medicines in an emergency situation without a medical practitioner present. This initiative has been praised for its commitment to patient access and saving lives in crisis situations.
In the United States, drug shortages can also impact patient access and worsen patient outcomes. In fact, according to a recent FDA analysis of 163 drugs that went into shortage during the five-year period between 2013 and 2017, quality problems were responsible for most shortages 62 percent of the time. Fortunately, many life-saving drugs are contained in the Nation’s Strategic National Stockpile, which contains the largest supply of potential life-saving medications and medical supplies in case of a public health emergency severe enough to overwhelm local supplies.