Pegfilgrastim, sold under the brand name Neulasta among others, is a

PEGylated PEGylation (or pegylation) is the process of both covalent and non-covalent attachment or amalgamation of polyethylene glycol (PEG, in pharmacy called macrogol) polymer chains to molecules and macrostructures, such as a drug, therapeutic protein ...

form of the recombinant human

granulocyte colony-stimulating factor Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF or GCSF), also known as colony-stimulating factor 3 (CSF 3), is a glycoprotein that stimulates the bone marrow to produce granulocytes and stem cells and release them into the bloodstream. Function ...

(GCSF) analog

filgrastim Filgrastim, sold under the brand name Neupogen among others, is a medication used to treat low neutrophil count. Low neutrophil counts may occur with HIV/AIDS, following chemotherapy or radiation poisoning, or be of an unknown cause. It may ...

. It serves to stimulate the production of white blood cells (

neutrophils Neutrophils are a type of phagocytic white blood cell and part of innate immunity. More specifically, they form the most abundant type of granulocytes and make up 40% to 70% of all white blood cells in humans. Their functions vary in different ...

). Pegfilgrastim was developed by

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. As one of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen has a ...

. Pegfilgrastim treatment can be used to stimulate bone marrow to produce more neutrophils to fight infection in patients undergoing chemotherapy. Pegfilgrastim has a human half-life of 15 to 80 hours, much longer than the parent filgrastim (3–4 hours). Pegfilgrastim was approved for medical use in the United States in January 2002, in the European Union in August 2002, and in Australia in September 2002. It is on the

World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (aka Essential Medicines List or EML), published by the World Health Organization (WHO), contains the medications considered to be most effective and safe to meet the most important needs in a health s ...

Medical uses

Pegfilgrastim is

indicated In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis ...

to decrease the incidence of infection, as manifested by febrile neutropenia, in people with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive anti-cancer drugs associated with a clinically significant incidence of febrile neutropenia; and to increase survival in people acutely exposed to myelosuppressive doses of radiation (hematopoietic subsyndrome of acute radiation syndrome).

Society and culture

Legal status

In January 2025, the CHMP adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Dyrupeg, intended to shorten the duration of neutropenia and help prevent febrile neutropenia after cytotoxic chemotherapy. The applicant for this medicinal product is CuraTeQ Biologics s.r.o. Text was copied from this source which is copyright European Medicines Agency. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged. Dyrupeg is a biosimilar medicinal product. It is highly similar to the reference product Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), which was authorized in the EU in August 2002.

References

{{Authority control Amgen Drugs developed by Hoffmann-La Roche Immunostimulants Recombinant proteins World Health Organization essential medicines