Always use this medicine exactly as your doctor has told you. Check with your doctor if you are not sure.
Your doctor has carried out blood tests and decided you need Eporise®.
Eporise® may be given by injection:
• Either into a vein or a tube that goes into a vein (intravenously)
• Or under the skin (subcutaneously).
Your doctor will decide how Eporise® will be injected. The injections will be given to you by a doctor, nurse or other health care professional.
Eporise® should not be used:
• after the expiry date on the label and outer carton
• if you know, or think that it may have been accidentally frozen, or
• if there has been a refrigerator failure.
The dose of Eporise® you receive is based on your body weight in kilograms. The cause of your anaemia is also a factor in your doctor deciding the correct dose.
Your doctor will monitor your blood pressure regularly while you are using Eporise®.
People with kidney disease
• Your doctor will maintain your haemoglobin level between 10 and 12 g/dL as a high haemoglobin level may increase the risk of blood clots and death. In children the haemoglobin level should be maintained between 9.5 and 11 g/dL.
• The usual starting dose of Eporise® for adults and children is 50 to 100 International Units (IU) per kilogram (/kg) of bodyweight given three times a week.
• For adults and children Eporise® is given as an injection either into a vein or a tube that goes into a vein. When this access (via a vein or tube) is not readily available, your doctor may decide that Eporise® should be injected under the skin (subcutaneously). This includes patients on dialysis and patients not yet on dialysis.
• Your doctor will order regular blood tests to see how your anaemia is responding and may adjust the dose, usually no more frequently than every four weeks. A rise in haemoglobin of greater than 2 g/dL over a four-week period should be avoided.
• Once your anaemia has been corrected, your doctor will continue to check your blood regularly. Your Eporise® dose and frequency of administration may be further adjusted to maintain your response to treatment. Your doctor will use the lowest effective dose to control the symptoms of your anemia.
• If you do not respond adequately to Eporise®, your doctor will check your dose and will Inform you if you need to change doses of Eporise®.
• If you are on a more extended dosing interval (greater than once weekly) of Eporise®, you May not maintain adequate haemoglobin levels and you may require an increase in Eporise®, dose or frequency of administration. • You may be given iron supplements before and during Eporise®, treatment to make it more effective.
• If you are having dialysis treatment when you begin treatment with Eporise®, your dialysis regime may need to be adjusted. Your doctor will decide this. Adults on chemotherapy
• Your doctor may initiate treatment with Eporise® if your haemoglobin is 10 g/dL or less.
• Your doctor will maintain your haemoglobin level between 10 and 12 g/dL as a high haemoglobin level may increase the risk of blood clots and death.
• The starting dose is either 150 IU per kilogram bodyweight three times a week or 40000 IU once a week.
• Eporise® is given by injection under the skin.
• Your doctor will order blood tests, and may adjust the dose, depending on how your anaemia responds to Eporise® treatment.
• You may be given iron supplements before and during Eporise® treatment to make it more effective.
• You will usually continue Eporise® treatment for one month after the end of chemotherapy
Adults donating their own blood
• The usual dose is 300 IU per kilogram bodyweight per day.
• Eporise® is given by injection into a vein immediately after you have donated blood for 3 weeks before your surgery.
• You may be given iron supplements before and during Eporise® treatment to make it more effective.
Adults scheduled for major orthopaedic surgery
• The recommended dose is 600 IU per kilogram bodyweight once a week.
• Eporise® is given by injection under the skin each week for three weeks before surgery and on the day of surgery.
• If there is a medical need to reduce the time before your operation, you will be given a daily dose of 300 IU/kg for up to ten days before surgery, on the day of surgery and for four days immediately afterwards.
• If blood tests show your haemoglobin is too high before the operation, the treatment will be stopped.
• You may be given iron supplements before and during Eporise® treatment to make it more effective.
Zidovudine-treated HIV-infected patients:
Starting dose: 100 IU/kg as an IV or SC injection three times a week for 8 weeks. Maintenance dose:
- If hemoglobin does not increase after 8 weeks of therapy, increase erythropoietin dose by approximately 50 to 100 IU/kg at 4- to 8-week intervals until haemoglobin reaches a level needed to avoid RBC transfusions or 300 IU/kg dose is reached.
- If the hemoglobin exceeds 12 g/dL, the dose should be discontinued.
- Resume therapy at a dose 25% below the previous dose when hemoglobin declines to less than 11 g/dL.
- Discontinue erythropoietin if an increase in hemoglobin is not achieved at a dose of 300 IU/kg for 8 weeks.
