How it works:

NEUPOGEN® is a recombinant (genetically engineered) protein that stimulates the production of infection-fighting white blood cells called neutrophils that are depleted by cytotoxic chemotherapy, a condition called neutropenia.

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NEUPOGEN®, launched in 1991 in the U.S. and Europe, is a recombinant version of a human protein that stimulates the production of infection-fighting white blood cells, called neutrophils. It is indicated to decrease the incidence of infection as manifested by febrile neutropenia in patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelo-suppressive anti-cancer drugs associated with a significant incidence of severe neutropenia with fever.

Splenic rupture and sickle cell crises have been reported in patients receiving NEUPOGEN®; some cases have been fatal. Acute respiratory distress syndrome and allergic reactions have also been reported. Allergic reactions occurred with initial or subsequent treatment. Alveolar hemorrhage manifesting as pulmonary infiltrates and hemoptysis requiring hospitalization has been reported in healthy donors undergoing peripheral blood progenitor cell mobilization, an unapproved use of NEUPOGEN®. Hemoptysis resolved with discontinuation of NEUPOGEN®.  In clinical trials of patients with cancer who received myelosuppressive chemotherapy, the most common adverse event was bone pain, reported in approximately 24% of patients.