Dosage and Administration of Gemcitabine

 

Gemcitabine is specifically a nucleoside analog and a chemotherapeutic agent. This agent was originally developed for its antiviral effects, but it is now recommended as an anticancer therapy to treat various cancers. The study of gemcitabine injection suggests that it is a cytidine analog with a couple of fluorine atoms replacing the hydroxyl on the ribose. As a prodrug, this drug is transformed into its active metabolites that act by replacing the building blocks of nucleic acids during DNA elongation, arresting tumor growth, and promoting apoptosis of malignant cells. The structure, metabolism, and working of gemcitabine are identical to cytarabine, but gemcitabine has a wider spectrum of antitumor activity.

 

Gemcitabine is available as the strength of 200 mg for intravenous administration. This drug is marketed as Gemzar. Gemcitabine is approved by the FDA for the treatment of certain cancers which are listed below. It is also being investigated in other cancer and tumor types.

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: The gemcitabine, alone or along with cisplatin, is used for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

 

Pancreatic Cancer: The gemcitabine is used for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Gemcitabine is used for patients with 5-FU refractory pancreatic cancer. The respective patients treated with this medicine may derive improvement in survival, significant clinical benefit, or both.

Bladder Cancer: The gemcitabine 200mg is used for the treatment of patients with bladder cancer.

 

Breast Cancer: The gemcitabine, together with paclitaxel, is used for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable, locally recurrent, or metastatic breast cancer who have relapsed after adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, containing anthracycline, unless clinically contraindicated.

 

Ovarian Cancer: The gemcitabine, along with carboplatin, is used to treat patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian carcinoma who have relapsed after platinum-based therapy.

 

Dosage and Method of Administration: The Gemcitabine 200 mg Injection is approved for intravenous use only. This medicinal product contains no antimicrobial agent or any kind of preservative. It is investigated for single use in single patients only. Discard any residue.

 

NSCLC (Single-agent Use): Adults: The usual dosage of gemcitabine is 1000 mg/m2, should be given by 30-minute intravenous infusion. This should be repeated once weekly for 3 weeks, followed by a 1-week rest period. This 4-week cycle is then repeated. Reduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient.

 

NSCLC (Combination Use): Adults: The Gemcitabine 200 mg injection along with drug cisplatin is prescribed using 2 dosing regimens. The one dosing regimen used a three-week schedule and the other used a four-week schedule.

The 3-week schedule used gemcitabine 1250 mg/m2, should be administered by 30-minute intravenous infusion, on Days 1'st and 8'th of each 21-day cycle. Reduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient.

The 4-week schedule used gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2, should be administered by 30-minute intravenous infusion, on days 1'st, 8'th, and 15'th of each 28-day cycle. eduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient.

 

Pancreatic Cancer: Adults: The recommended dose of gemcitabine is 1000 mg/m2, should be administered by 30-minute intravenous infusion. This needs to be repeated once weekly for up to seven weeks followed by one week of rest. The subsequent cycles need to be consist of injections once weekly for three consecutive weeks out of every four weeks. The reduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient.

 

Bladder Cancer: (Single-agent use): Adults: The recommended dosage of gemcitabine is 1250 mg/m2, administered by a 30-minute intravenous infusion. The dose should be given on Days 1'st, 8'th, and 15'th of each 28-day cycle. This four-week cycle is then repeated. The reduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient.

 

Bladder Cancer: (Combination use): Adults: The recommended dosage for gemcitabine is 1000 mg/m2, which should be administered by a 30-minute infusion. The dosage should be given on Days 1'st, 8'th, and 15'th of each 28-day cycle along with cisplatin. Cisplatin is given at a recommended dose of 70 mg/m2 on Day 1'st following gemcitabine or Day 2'nd of each 28-day cycle. This four-week cycle is then repeated. The reduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient. A clinical trial demonstrated more myelosuppression when the medication named cisplatin was used in the doses of 100 mg/m2.

 

Breast Cancer: (Combination Use): Adults: The gemcitabine injection together with drug paclitaxel is prescribed using paclitaxel (175 mg/m2) given on Day 1'st over around 3 hours as an intravenous infusion, followed by drug gemcitabine (1250 mg/m2) as a 30-minute intravenous infusion on Days 1'st and 8'th of each 21-day cycle. The reduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient. The respective patients must have a granulocyte count for a minimum of 1500 (x 106/L) before initiating therapy with gemcitabine and paclitaxel combination.

 

Ovarian Cancer: (Combination use): Adults: The gemcitabine along with carboplatin is recommended using gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 given on Days 1'st and 8'th of each 21-day cycle as a 30-minute intravenous infusion. After medication gemcitabine, carboplatin should be administered on Day 1'st consistent with a target AUC of 4.0 mg/mL/min. The reduction of dosage with each cycle or within a cycle may be applied on behalf of the amount of toxicity experienced by the patient.