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Zometa

Zoledronate (Zometa®, Novartis) is a bisphosphonate, used to prevent osteoporosis and skeletal fractures, particularly in patients with cancers such as multiple myeloma and prostate cancer. It can also be used to treat hypercalcemia, particularly hypercalcemia of malignancy. It can also be helpful for treating pain from bone metastases. more...

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Administration

Usually 4 mg intravenously once a month when given for oncologic purposes. It is given once a year for treatment of osteoporosis.

Side effects

Side effects can include fatigue, anemia, muscle aches, fevers, and swelling in the feet or legs. Zoledronate can cause deterioration in renal function.

A rare complicaiton of zoledronate is osteonecrosis of the jaw. This has mainly been seen in patients with multiple myeloma treated with zoledronate (Durie et al 2005).

Contraindications

  • Poor renal function (e.g. creatinine>3 mg/dL)
  • Pregnancy

Reference

  • Durie BG, Katz M, Crowley J. Osteonecrosis of the jaw and bisphosphonates. N Engl J Med 2005;353:99-102. PMID 16000365.

Read more at Wikipedia.org


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Zometa OK'ed for one indication, Novartis tries for another - Brief Article
From Drug Store News, 9/24/01

Days after Novartis received FDA approval to market Zometa (zoledronic acid for injection) as a hypercalcemia treatment, the drug company filed an additional indication for the drug. Novartis was cleared to market Zometa Aug. 20 for the treatment of hypercalcemia, a potentially deadly release of excess calcium m the blood of cancer patients caused by the breakdown of bone. It has a shorter administration time than the leading treatment, Aredia (pamidronate disoudium for injection), taking only 15 minutes compared with two hours to 24 hours.

Days after the first approval, Novartis submitted an application for Zometa as a treatment for bone complications (metastases) associated with a broad range of tumor types, including prostate, lung, breast and multiple myeloma cancers. Early experience with Zometa in clinical trials treating patients with bone metastases indicated that risk for renal function deterioration (defined as an increase in serum creatinine) is increased in patients who receive the drug over five minutes vs. 15 minutes, so doses of Zometa should not exceed 4 mg and the duration of infusion should be no less than 15 minutes.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group

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