New Treatment

[Ger]

Can someone please tell me the injection medicine used for MDS. Is it neupogen or nuepogen? I found both of these names used in trying to find out about it on the internet.

Since Dacogen did not work out well for my husband the Dr started these injections yesterday as his platelets and WBC are very low.

Thanks for your help.
Geri & Don

[Ruth Cuadra]

Geri and Don,

Neupogen is an injectable protein that stimulates the production of white blood cells. It's used by patients receiving chemotherapy or who otherwise have low white counts, as MDS patients often do, because of bone marrow disease. Although it doesn't have any effect on MDS itself, Neupogen should help Don avoid infections and the need for antibiotics. Bone pain is the most common side effect of Neupogen, but it is usually mild and can be controlled with Tylenol. You'll see Neupogen referred to by its generic name "filgrastim" (fill GRASS tim), but "nuepogen" is just a typo.

As far as I know, there are no approved drugs at the moment for increasing platelet production. Amgen is currently conducting a variety of clinical trials on a platelet-stimulating drug known as AMG 531. You might want to look at their trials for MDS patients here and here.

Regards,
Ruth