Drug trade name- Ixempra

Generic name- Ixabepilone

Group- Mitotic Inhibitors

Introduction and Quick Information about Ixempra:

Ixempra is one of the most effective chemotherapy drugs, which is used to treat locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. This drug is recommended only for those patients whose tumors are resistant to, or those who are no longer benefiting from certain other drugs like taxanes (such as Taxol), anthracyclines (such as Adriamycin), and capecitabine (Xeloda). Ixempra is a member of epothilones, one of the new families of anticancer drugs. This medication prevents or slows the growth of tumor, or neoplasm, by preventing the cell division. This drug is administered through injection.

Is Ixempra Approved by FDA?

On 16 October, 2007, the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved Ixabepilone to treat locally advanced or aggressive metastatic breast cancer, which no longer is responding to certain available chemotherapies.

Usage and Benefits of Ixempra:

You might have been experiencing cancer for some time now, or your cancer may have got away and returned back again. Either way, finding out that your breast cancer has actually spread might change the overall way how you think about the complication, your treatment, and your entire life. For some females, their breast cancer has metastasized (spread) already by the time they get the diagnosis done. Other females might be receiving a specific treatment, but their cancer is not properly responding to the treatment

Breast cancer generally spreads whenever the cancer cells split down from the tumor inside the women’s breast and spread to certain other body parts. The very first area where the breast cancer usually spreads is the the tissue or lymph nodes near the tumor. This process is known as locally advanced breast cancer. Cancer which has spread to several other body parts is termed as metastatic cancer. Breast cancer might get spread to the liver, bones, or lungs.
Once the breast cancer spreads, your treatment targets may change in order to slow down the growth of cancer. Your doctor might prefer treating you with Ixempra. Ixempra is a drug which is used to treat metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer following certain treatments. It can be taken alone or with any another cancer medication such as Xeloda (capecitabine).

Ixempra Side Effects:

Don’t get frightened the moment you come across side effects or adverse effects because these are just a normal part of ever drug or medication. Just like the positive points or advantages, all medicines including Ixempra include some possible side effects. However, you people can avoid many of those negative effects by taking proper care of your dosing schedule. Never try to take this drug in extra amounts. Some Ixempra side effects include:

• discomfort, or loss of feeling anywhere in your body
• numbness, tingling, burning pain
• flu symptoms like fever, body aches, chills
• easy bruising
• sores in throat and mouth
• unusual bleeding (mouth, nose, vagina, or rectum)
• feeling short of breath or light – headed
• pale skin
• trouble in concentrating
• sudden weakness or numbness
• rapid heart rate
• burning or pain when you urinate
• sudden severe headache
• problems with speech, vision, or balance
• chest pain or heavy feeling
• swelling, pain, and redness on the soles of the feet or the palms of the hands
• tired feeling
• hair loss
• joint or muscle pain
• nausea
• stomach pain
• vomiting
• problems with your toenails or fingernails
• loss of appetite
• diarrhea or constipation

Inform your doctor if you encounter something unusual or any severe side effect.

General Recommended Dosages of Ixempra:

Ixempra has to be injected inside a vein through the IV. You will always receive this injectable drug in a hospital or clinic setting. Ixempra needs to be given quite slowly, and the IV infusion generally requires around three hours completing.

Ixempra is generally given after every three weeks.

Around 1 hour before you are going to receive Ixempra, your doctor will give you some other medications to prevent certain side effects.

Ixempra can lower down your blood cells which will assist your body in fighting against infections. This can make it a bit easy for you to bleed from an injury

Your doctor will ask you for the proper blood checkups. Visit your general practitioner on regular basis

In case I Miss my Dose?

In case you have missed an appointment to get Ixempra injection, then call your healthcare provider for further instructions. He will let you know when you have to come to receive the missed injection dose.

In case I Take Overdose?

Your medical practitioner will give the dose in the required amount. Overdose of this medication can prove to be very injurious.

Drug Interactions of Ixempra:

Drug interaction takes place when the effect of a particular drug is changed in a negative sense when it is taken along with another drug, health supplement or any other product. Some possible drugs that can interact with

• bosentan (Tracleer)
• St. John’s wort
• dexamethasone (DexPak, Cortastat, Solurex)
• rifampin (Rifamate, Rifater, Rifadin), rifabutin (Mycobutin), or rifapentine (Priftin);
• antidepressants like nefazodone
• antibiotic like quinupristin / dalfopristin (Synercid), telithromycin (Ketek), clarithromycin (Biaxin), nafcillin (Unipen, Nallpen), erythromycin (E.E.S., Ery-Tab, Erythrocin, EryPed), or
• antifungal medication like itraconazole (Sporanox), clotrimazole (Mycelex Troche), voriconazole (Vfend), ketoconazole (Extina, Nizoral, Ketozole, Xolegal)
• blood pressure or heart medicines like verapamil (Calan, Isoptin, Verelan, Covera),diltiazem (Cardizem, Cartia), nifedipine (Procardia, Nifedical), felodipine (Plendil), etc
• barbiturate like pentobarbital (Nembutal), butabarbital (Butisol), secobarbital (Seconal), or phenobarbital (Solfoton)
• AIDS / HIV medicine like atazanavir (Reyataz), nevirapine (Viramune), efavirenz (Sustiva), etravirine (Intelence), ritonavir (Norvir), indinavir (Crixivan), delavirdine (Rescriptor), nelfinavir (Viracept), or saquinavir (Invirase, Fortovase)
• medicines for the treatment of narcolepsy like modafanil (Progivil) or armodafanil (Nuvigil)
• seizure medication like felbamate (Felbatol), carbamazepine (Tegretol, Carbatrol), fosphenytoin (Cerebyx), oxcarbazepine (Trileptal), primidone (Mysoline) or phenytoin (Dilantin)

This list of the drugs which can interact with Ixempra is not a complete one. Hence, tell your doctor about every sort of medicines you take.

Life style and Food Habits you must Follow when on Ixempra:

Health, by its definition, is actually a state of mental, physical as well as social well being. It indicates the absence of disease or infirmity and this is the reason why maintaining and earning health has turned out to be an active process. Good health is a derivative of regular exercise, proper nutrition, hygiene and health care. However, today people do not bother stop consuming unhealthy stuffs which have ZERO or even MINUS nutritional values. If you want your Ixempra treatment to perform well, just stay away from the hazardous things. Avoid alcohol while you are using Ixempra.

Inform your doctor if you have:

• heart disease
• liver disease
• nerve problems (especially in feet or hands)
• weak immune system or bone marrow suppression
• diabetes
• you are allergic to ixabepilone

How Safe is Ixempra for Pregnant Women or Nursing mothers?

When a female is pregnant, she needs to be doubly careful, alert and safe, not only for the sake of her own health but also to protect the health of her unborn child. During the complete period of pregnancy, a lot of alterations happen inside a mother’s body that they can alter her complete system. Certain things, foods and drugs which were well appropriate before pregnancy, might result in several adverse effects when the lady is pregnant. Thus, always inform your doctor in advance if you’re a nursing mother, pregnant lady or planning to become a mom during the Ixempra treatment. This medicine can do harm to your unborn baby.

Complications and Conditions Possible due to Prolonged use of Ixempra:

Although this medication is taken when it is required, inform your doctor if you observe a great change in your condition, either in positive way or in negative one. Your doctor will ask you for proper and time-to-time checkups to diagnose your condition. So don’t miss the scheduled visits.

Availability of the Ixempra:

You can get Ixempra from several medical drug stores which are FDA approved or can visit the authorized online drug  companies which can provide you the specific drug