Aldesleukin Intravenous and Octreotide Acetate

• Generic Name: aldesleukin
• Dosage Forms: n.a.
• Other Brand Names: Proleukin

Aldesleukin injection is anticancer medicine that is used to treat metastatic kidney cancer (cancer that has already spread to the body) and metastatic skin cancer.

Aldesleukin is a man-made version of a substance called interleukin-2. Interleukins are produced naturally by cells in the body to help white blood cells work.

Aldesleukin causes very serious side effects in addition to its helpful effects. Some effects can be fatal. For that reason, aldesleukin injection is given only in the hospital. If severe side effects occur, which is common, treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) may be necessary. Other effects may not be serious but may cause concern. Before you begin treatment with aldesleukin, you and your doctor should talk about the benefits aldesleukin will do as well as the risks of using it.

Aldesleukin is to be administered only by or under the immediate supervision of your doctor.

• Generic Name: octreotide
• Dosage Forms: n.a.
• Other Brand Names: Sandostatin, Sandostatin LAR Depot

Symptomatic treatment to suppress or inhibit severe diarrhea and flushing associated with carcinoid tumors.

Long-acting suspension is used for long-term management of severe diarrhea and flushing episodes associated with metastatic carcinoid tumors in patients in whom initial treatment with octreotide immediate-release injection has been shown to be effective and tolerated (designated an orphan drug by FDA for this use).

Acute management of potentially life-threatening hypotension associated with carcinoid crisis.

Prophylaxis of carcinoid crisis that might be precipitated by anesthesia, surgery, initiation of chemotherapy, or infection.

Management of profuse watery diarrhea associated with vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-secreting tumors.

Long-acting suspension is used for long-term management of profuse watery diarrhea associated with VIP-secreting tumors in patients who have been treated successfully with octreotide immediate-release injection (designated an orphan drug by FDA for this use).

Treatment to reduce growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) blood concentrations in patients with acromegaly who have had inadequate responses to or are not candidates for surgical resection, pituitary irradiation, and bromocriptine mesylate (at maximally tolerated doses).

Long-acting suspension is used for long-term therapy in patients who are candidates for medical therapy and who have been treated successfully with immediate-release injection (designated an orphan drug by FDA for this use). Long-acting suspension may be used in patients who are not candidates for surgery or who have had an inadequate response to surgery or patients who have had a suboptimal response to radiation therapy.

Has been used in a limited number of neonates and infants to stabilize plasma glucose levels prior to pancreatectomy, to treat recurrent post-operative hypoglycemia, and as an alternative medical treatment to diazoxide for control of hypoglycemia.