How Chemotherapy Is Used

How Will I Receive Chemotherapy?
The way you receive chemotherapy will depend on the kinds of drugs your healthcare team has prescribed. Usually, chemotherapy is given by mouth, by injection into a vein, skin or muscle, or by mixing the drug into a solution and letting it flow into a vein for 30 minutes or more. Most patients don't notice anything special when they get their chemotherapy, but everyone is different. So if you feel something unusual, tell your healthcare team how you feel.

How Long Will Treatment Continue?
How long or how often you get chemotherapy depends on many things, including the type of cancer you have and the type of chemotherapy drugs you are getting, how the cancer responds to the chemotherapy, and what type of side effects you have. Your healthcare team will make every effort to fit your chemotherapy treatments into your schedule. It's important to understand that your treatment schedule is an important part of how chemotherapy works, so your treatment should not be changed without a very good reason.

How Will My Therapy Be Planned?
Healthcare teams develop cancer treatment plans to suit individual patient needs and may use chemotherapy alone or with other cancer treatments, such as surgery. You and your team's decision to use a certain chemotherapy is based on several factors, including the type of cancer, its location, your age, your lifestyle, and your medical history.

Your goal of therapy is what you and your healthcare team expect from treatment. If your goal of therapy is to treat your cancer as strongly as possible, your treatment may be different from that of someone whose disease is more advanced or severe or who cannot tolerate certain side effects of treatment. Some people may determine that their goal of therapy is to be as comfortable as possible or to maintain their normal activities of daily living for as long as possible.

You and your healthcare team can work together to determine a course of treatment with side effects that you are willing and able to live with. Be aware, however, that patients who choose a more aggressive therapy may experience more side effects or more severe side effects.

About GEMZAR

GEMZAR is indicated in combination with cisplatin (another type of chemotherapy) for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced (stage IIIA or stage IIIB) or metastatic (stage IV or cancer that has spread) non-small cell lung cancer for whom surgery is not possible.

GEMZAR is indicated in combination with carboplatin (another type of chemotherapy) for the woman with ovarian cancer that has returned at least 6 months after the patient had finished platinum-based therapy.

GEMZAR in combination with paclitaxel is approved by the FDA for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer after they have received another type of chemotherapy called an anthracycline, unless their medical condition did not allow them to receive an anthracycline.

GEMZAR is indicated as a single agent (given alone) as the first-line treatment for patients with locally advanced (stage II or stage III when surgery is not an option) or metastatic (stage IV) adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. GEMZAR is also indicated for patients previously treated with 5-FU (another type of chemotherapy).

Important Safety Information

GEMZAR may not be appropriate for some patients.

If you are allergic to GEMZAR, tell your doctor you should not receive it. GEMZAR can suppress bone marrow function. There have been rare reports of serious kidney or liver toxicity with GEMZAR treatment, sometimes fatal. Serious lung toxicity has also been reported, sometimes fatal. If you think you are pregnant, are planning to be pregnant, or are nursing, please tell your healthcare team. GEMZAR may harm your unborn or nursing baby.

If you have had prior kidney or liver problems or impairment, please tell your healthcare professional. GEMZAR may not be right for you. GEMZAR has not been shown to work in children. Tell your doctor if you are taking other medicines, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, or herbal supplements.

There is a risk of side effects associated with GEMZAR therapy. The most common side effects are low blood cell counts (red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets); fever; infection; hair loss; tiredness; nausea, vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea; rash; shortness of breath; muscle aches; and numbness or tingling in your toes or fingers. These are not all of the side effects of GEMZAR. If you have any side effect that bothers you or that doesn't go away, be sure to talk with your healthcare professional. Call your healthcare professional right away if you have fever or chills. These symptoms could mean you have an infection.

You will have regular blood tests before and during your treatment with GEMZAR. Your doctor may adjust your dose of GEMZAR or delay your treatment based on the results of your blood test and on your general condition.

For more information about all of the side effects of GEMZAR, please talk with your healthcare team, see the complete Prescribing Information, or call 1-800-545-5979.

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