Pacligen
Pacligen is a cancer medicine that helps stop cancer cells from dividing and growing.
Form
infuusiokonsentraatti, liuosta varten
Strength
6 mg/ml
Active Ingredient
Paclitaxel
Manufacturer
Sandoz A/S
How to Use
Dosage
Your doctor will decide your dose and how many doses you get. It's based on your body surface area and blood test results.
Method
Pacligen is given as an infusion into a vein (intravenously) over 3-24 hours, using a special filter.
Important
This medicine is usually given every 2 or 3 weeks. Your doctor will decide how many treatments you need.
Possible Side Effects
COMMON
- •Infections (mainly urinary tract and upper respiratory infections). If you have fever or other signs of infection, tell your doctor immediately.
- •Shortness of breath.
- •Decreased white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet counts.
- •Fever, severe chills, headache, dizziness, tiredness, paleness, bleeding, increased bruising.
- •Mild allergic reactions like hot flashes, rash, and itching.
- •Nerve damage in limbs (peripheral neuropathy), with crawling or tingling sensations, numbness, and/or pain in the limbs (may continue for over 6 months after stopping Pacligen).
- •Low blood pressure.
- •Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.
- •Sore throat or mouth sores, mouth pain and redness.
- •Hair loss (most cases occur within a month of starting paclitaxel treatment and are significant, affecting over 50% of patients).
- •Muscle or joint pain, muscle cramps.
RARE
- •Slow heartbeat.
- •Temporary, mild nail and skin changes.
- •Reactions at the injection site (local swelling, pain, redness, hardening, sometimes inflammation of the skin's connective tissue, skin thickening due to connective tissue formation, skin death).
- •Significantly increased liver enzyme levels (AFOS and ASAT) in liver function tests, indicating liver problems.
- •Septic shock (shock due to blood poisoning).
- •Severe allergic reactions with drop in blood pressure, swelling of the face, lips, mouth, tongue or throat, shortness of breath, or hives – these symptoms require medical attention.
- •Trembling.
- •Back pain.
- •Chest pain.
- •Fast heartbeat.
- •Abdominal pain.
- •Pain in limbs.
- •Sweating.
- •Tiredness.
- •High blood pressure.
- •Vein inflammation.
- •Blood clots.
- •Difficulty breathing.
- •Fast heartbeat (ventricular tachycardia, tachycardia with bigeminy).
- •Palpitations, heart rhythm disorder (AV block).
- •Fainting.
- •Heart attack.
- •High levels of bilirubin in the blood (detected in blood tests), causing jaundice.
- •Sepsis (blood poisoning).
- •Peritonitis (inflammation of the lining of the abdomen).
- •Low white blood cell count (neutrophil count) with fever and increased risk of infection (febrile neutropenia).
- •Severe and potentially fatal allergic reactions (anaphylaxis).
- •Damage to motor nerves, causing muscle weakness in limbs.
- •Shortness of breath, interstitial lung inflammation, lung fibrosis, pulmonary embolism, fluid accumulation in the lung cavity.
- •Intestinal obstruction.
- •Intestinal perforation.
- •Colon inflammation (ischemic colitis).
- •Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).
- •Itching, rash, or skin redness.
- •Increased blood creatinine levels, indicating kidney dysfunction.
- •Neurological disorders with muscle weakness in arms and legs.
- •Fever, dehydration, weakness, swelling, general discomfort.
- •Heart disease that can cause shortness of breath and ankle swelling.
- •Sudden disease of blood-forming bone marrow cells (acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome).
- •Severe and potentially fatal allergic reaction and shock (anaphylactic shock).
- •Loss of appetite (anorexia).
- •States of confusion.
- •Optic nerve and/or vision disorders (flashes, visual field defects).
- •Hearing loss or impairment, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), vertigo.
- •Heart rhythm disorders (atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia).
- •Mesenteric blood clot.
- •Colon inflammation, sometimes with severe, long-lasting diarrhea (pseudomembranous colitis, neutropenic colitis), fluid accumulation in the abdomen (ascites), esophagitis, constipation.
- •Liver dysfunction (liver necrosis, hepatic encephalopathy; both have been reported to lead to death in some cases).
- •Severe allergic reactions that may include fever, skin redness, joint pain, and/or eye inflammation (Stevens-Johnson syndrome), skin peeling (epidermal necrolysis), redness and irregular red, oozing patches (exudative erythema multiforme), blistering and peeling skin inflammation (exfoliative dermatitis), hives, nail detachment (hands and feet should be protected from sun during treatment).
Important Warnings
- Do not use Pacligen if you are allergic to paclitaxel or any other ingredient in this medicine, especially macrogolglycerol ricinoleate.
- Do not use Pacligen if you are breastfeeding.
- Do not use Pacligen if your white blood cell count (neutrophil values) is too low (below 1500 cells/microlitre for cancer patients or below 1000 cells/microlitre for Kaposi's sarcoma patients). Your doctor or nurse will check this.
- Do not use Pacligen if you have Kaposi's sarcoma and also a severe, uncontrolled infection.
- Do not use Pacligen if you have severe liver problems.
Show 7 more warnings
- Tell your doctor immediately if you notice severe allergic reactions (e.g., difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, low blood pressure, dizziness, fainting, skin reactions like swelling and rash).
- Tell your doctor immediately if you have fever, severe chills, sore throat, or mouth sores (signs of bone marrow suppression).
- Tell your doctor immediately if you have heart conduction problems.
- Tell your doctor immediately if you have previously had nerve problems in your limbs, such as numbness, weakness, tingling, or burning sensations (signs of peripheral neuropathy). Your Pacligen dose may need to be reduced.
- Tell your doctor immediately if you have previously received radiation therapy to your chest (risk of lung inflammation may increase).
- Tell your doctor immediately if you have severe or long-lasting diarrhea with fever and abdominal pain during or soon after Pacligen treatment. This could be colon inflammation (pseudomembranous colitis).
- Tell your doctor immediately if you have Kaposi's sarcoma and develop severe inflammation of the mucous membranes. Your dose may need to be reduced.