Procrit Indications & Dosage

HealthCentral.com

Drug Library
Procrit - Indications & Dosage [Epoetin alfa]

Among those patients who required transfusions at baseline, 43% of patients treated with PROCRIT versus 18% of placebo-treated patients were transfusion-independent during the second and third months of therapy. PROCRIT therapy also resulted in significant increases in hematocrit in comparison to placebo. When examining the results according to the weekly dose of zidovudine received during Month 3 of therapy, there was a statistically significant (p <0.003) reduction in transfusion requirements in patients treated with PROCRIT (N= 51) compared to placebo-treated patients (N= 54) whose mean weekly zidovudine dose was 4,200 mg/ week.

Approximately 17% of the patients with endogenous serum erythropoietin levels 500 mUnits/ mL receiving PROCRIT in doses from 100-200 Units/ kg three times weekly (T. I. W.) achieved a hematocrit of 38% without administration of transfusions or a significant reduction in zidovudine dose. In the subgroup of patients whose prestudy endogenous serum erythropoietin levels were > 500 mUnits/ mL, PROCRIT therapy did not reduce transfusion requirements or increase hematocrit, compared to the corresponding responses in placebo-treated patients. In a six month open-label PROCRIT study, patients responded with decreased transfusion requirements and sustained increases in hematocrit and hemoglobin with doses of PROCRIT up to 300 Units/ kg (T. I. W.).

Responsiveness to PROCRIT therapy may be blunted by intercurrent infectious/ inflammatory episodes and by an increase in zidovudine dosage. Consequently, the dose of PROCRIT must be titrated based on these factors to maintain the desired erythropoietic response. Cancer Patients on Chemotherapy PROCRIT has been studied in a series of placebo-controlled, double-blind trials in a total of 131 anemic cancer patients. Within this group, 72 patients were treated with concomitant non-cisplatin-containing chemotherapy regimens and 59 patients were treated with concomitant cisplatin-containing chemotherapy regimens.