Filgrastim 48million units/0.5ml solution for injection pre-filled syringes
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Filgrastim is a short-acting recombinant, non-pegylated human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) analog produced by recombinant DNA technology.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Official medicine documents
Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Filgrastim
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Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Filgrastim
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EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
4 branded products available
Part of the Neupogen brand family (generic: Filgrastim)
MHRA licensed products
View all licensed products for Filgrastim on the MHRA register
Accofil 48million units/0.5ml solution for injection pre-filled syringes
Neupogen Singleject 48million units/0.5ml solution for injection pre-filled syringes
Nivestim 48million units/0.5ml solution for injection pre-filled syringes
Zarzio 48million units/0.5ml solution for injection pre-filled syringes
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
350 microgram
Not a recommended dose. The DDD is the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults. It is a statistical measure used for research and comparison purposes only.
Source: WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, distributed via the NHS dm+d supplementary BNF/ATC mapping files (NHSBSA). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(2)
Talazoparib for treating HER2-negative advanced breast cancer with germline BRCA mutations (TA952)
Olaparib for previously treated BRCA mutation-positive hormone-relapsed metastatic prostate cancer (TA887)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
Browse tools
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BNF code shown is the factual mapping value distributed by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in the dm+d supplementary file under OGL v3.0; it is not affiliated with, nor licensed from, the publishers of the British National Formulary. ATC codes from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (whocc.no).
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 7 · Randomised trials: 26 · 1992–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Lionel Pinto, Zhimei Liu, Quan V. Doan, et al.
Current Medical Research and Opinion, 2007
- Filgrastim
- Antineoplastic Agents
- Fever
Norbert Schmitz, Peter Dreger, David C. Linch, et al.
The Lancet, 1996
- Filgrastim
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
- Carmustine
DC Dale, MA Bonilla, MW Davis, et al.
Blood, 1993
- Filgrastim
- Bone Marrow
- Colony-Stimulating Factors
Richard A. Larson, Richard K. Dodge, Charles Linker, et al.
PubMed, 1998
- Remission Induction
- Filgrastim
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
Norbert Schmitz, Andrea Bacigalupo, Dirk Hasenclever, et al.
Bone Marrow Transplantation, 1998
- Bone Marrow Transplantation
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
- Filgrastim
P. Therasse, L. Mauriac, Marzena Wełnicka-Jaśkiewicz, et al.
Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2003
- Filgrastim
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
- Breast Neoplasms
Gini F. Fleming, Virginia L. Filiaci, Rex C. Bentley, et al.
Annals of Oncology, 2004
- Filgrastim
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
- Carcinoma
Steve Nelson, Steven M. Belknap, Richard W. Carlson, et al.
The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1998
- Filgrastim
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Australia
Russell L. Basser, John E.J. Rasko, Kerrie Clarke, et al.
PubMed, 1997
- Filgrastim
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
- Blood Platelets
E Osby
Blood, 2003
- Filgrastim
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
- Cyclophosphamide
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
3.5 hours
Mechanism
Neutrophils are critical granulocytes involved in the acute inflammatory respons…
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
1 target
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
49 ng/mL
Half-life
3.5 hours
Protein binding
Volume of distribution
150 mL
[L40714]
There is no evidence of drug accumulation.
[L40719]
Metabolism
Elimination
[A245878]
Clearance
0.5 to 0.7 mL/min
[L40714]
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Filgrastim was approved in the US in 1991 and there are biosimilars available with similar therapeutic indications.[A245858] Tbo-filgrastim was approved by the FDA on August 29, 2012.[L36325] Filgrastim-sndz was approved on March 6, 2015 [L40768] and filgrastim-ayow was approved on March 2, 2022.[L40773] A long-acting, pegylated G-CSF, [pegfilgrastim], was made available to increase the duration of action of the drug.
[L40714]
Filgrastim is indicated for reducing the time to neutrophil recovery and the duration of fever, following induction or consolidation chemotherapy treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
[L40714]
Filgrastim is indicated to reduce the duration of neutropenia and neutropenia-related clinical sequelae‚ e.g.‚ febrile neutropenia, in patients with nonmyeloid malignancies undergoing myeloablative chemotherapy followed by bone marrow transplantation.
[L40714]
Filgrastim is indicated for the mobilization of autologous hematopoietic progenitor cells into the peripheral blood for collection by leukapheresis.
[L40714]
Filgrastim is indicated for chronic administration to reduce the incidence and duration of sequelae of neutropenia (e.g.‚ fever‚ infections‚ oropharyngeal ulcers) in symptomatic patients with congenital neutropenia‚ cyclic neutropenia‚ or idiopathic neutropenia.
[L40714]
Filgrastim is indicated to increase survival in patients acutely exposed to myelosuppressive doses of radiation.
[L40714]
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 10 of 10 interactions
[L40734]
There is limited information regarding filgrastim overdose. The maximum tolerated dose of filgrastim has not been determined.
In clinical trials of patients with cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy‚ white blood cell counts greater than 100,000/mm3 have been reported in less than 5% of patients‚ but were not associated with any reported adverse clinical effects. Patients in the bone marrow transplantation studies received up to 138 mcg/kg/day without toxic effects‚ although there was a flattening of the dose response curve above daily doses of greater than 10 mcg/kg/day.
[L40714]
The production and release of functional neutrophils from the bone marrow are normally regulated by granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF), which are major cytokine regulators of neutrophilic granulocytes.[A35605] G-CSFs act on hematopoietic cells by binding to specific cell surface receptors to stimulate the proliferation‚ differentiation‚ and maturation of neutrophil progenitors. G-CSF also induces some end-cell functional activation of neutrophils, including enhanced phagocytic ability‚ priming of the cellular metabolism associated with respiratory burst‚ antibody-dependent killing, and the increased expression of some cell surface antigens.[L40714] Filgrastim is a short-acting recombinant G-CSF that mimics the biological actions of endogenous G-CSF. It also facilitates the release of neutrophils from the bone marrow into the blood to reduce the incidence of infection and manage neutropenia.[A245858][A245868]
Filgrastim is also used to mobilize hematopoietic progenitor cells into the peripheral blood in order to reduce the risk for bleeding complications and the need for platelet transfusions. Recipients of allogeneic PBPCs mobilized with filgrastim experienced significantly more rapid hematological recovery, leading to a significant decrease in time to unsupported platelet recovery when compared with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.[L40719]
Filgrastim causes a dose-dependent increase in circulating neutrophil counts within 24 hours of administration. Filgrastim can also cause a minor increase in monocyte and lymphocyte counts, but the clinical significance of these effects is unknown.[L40714] In some patients, filgrastim also caused a minor increase in the number of circulating eosinophils and basophils relative to baseline; however, these patients may already have had elevated eosinophils and basophils prior to filgrastim treatment. Following termination of filgrastim therapy, circulating neutrophil counts decrease by 50% within one to two days, and to normal levels within one to seven days. As with other hematopoietic growth factors, G-CSF has shown in vitro stimulating properties on human endothelial cells.[L40719]
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Continuous 24-hour intravenous infusions of 20 mcg/kg over an 11 to 20-day period produced steady-state serum concentrations of filgrastim with no evidence of drug accumulation. The absolute bioavailability of filgrastim after subcutaneous administration is 60% to 70%.
[L40714]
[L40714]
[L40714]
There is no evidence of drug accumulation.
[L40719]
[A187841][A245878]
[A245878]
[L40714]
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
Enzymes involved in drug metabolism — important for understanding drug interactions
ATC L03AA02
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Show
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Filgrastim
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
7657
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
23013
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:2439
GenAtlas
CSF3R
GeneCards
CSF3R
GenBank Gene Database
X55721
GenBank Protein Database
31697
Guide to Pharmacology
1719
UniProt Accession
CSF3R_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:3309
GenAtlas
ELA2
GeneCards
ELANE
GenBank Gene Database
Y00477
GenBank Protein Database
296665
Guide to Pharmacology
2358
UniProt Accession
ELNE_HUMAN
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications:
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Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q3151081), a free and open knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. WHO INN from the World Health Organization.