Aplastic Anemia Drugs and Treatments
More drugs and treatments are available to treat bone marrow failure disease than ever before. Researchers constantly look for ways to enhance drugs already on the market and develop new ones with fewer side effects. Some drugs treat only one type of the disease, while others may be used to treat more than one type. Check with your doctor to find out which drugs are right for you and why.
Growth Factors
Growth factors are naturally occurring hormones in your body that signal your bone marrow to make more of certain types of blood cells. Man-made growth factors may be given to some people with bone marrow failure diseases to help increase red blood cell, white blood cell or platelet counts.
Heparin
Brand name: Calciparine, Liquaemin
Heparin is in a class of medications called anticoagulants ('blood thinners'). It works by decreasing the clotting ability of the blood. Heparin is also used to stop the growth of clots that have already formed in the blood vessels, but it cannot be used to decrease the size of clots that have already formed.
Immunosuppressive Therapy
Immunosuppressive drug therapy lowers your body's immune response. This prevents your immune system from attacking your bone marrow, allowing bone marrow stem cells to grow, which raises blood counts.
Iron Chelation
Iron chelation therapy is the main treatment used when you have a condition called iron overload. Iron overload means you have too much iron in your body. This can be a problem for people who get lots of red blood cell transfusions.
Mycophenolate Mofetil
Brand name: CellCept
A drug that lowers the body's immune response, also referred to as an immunosuppressant drug.
Prednisone
Brand name: Rayos, Sterapred, Deltasone
Prednisone a man-made version of a hormone produced naturally by the adrenal gland that can help reduce inflammation and stop allergic responses. It is prescribed when the body is not producing enough of this chemical on its own.
Romiplostim
Brand name: NPlate
Romiplostim is in a class of medications called thrombopoietin receptor agonists. It works by causing the cells in the bone marrow to produce more platelets. Romiplostim injection is used to increase the number of platelets enough to lower the risk of bleeding, but it is not used to increase the number of platelets to a normal level.
Tacrolimus
Brand name: Prograf
Tacrolimus is in a class of medications called immunosuppressants. It works by decreasing the activity of the immune system. Tacrolimus can be prescribed to treat and prevent graft vs host disease (GVHD). It can also be used as part of combination therapy to treat aplastic anemia in place of cyclosporine. Tacrolimus administration can be oral, sublingual, topical, or intravenous (IV) route.
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3