Your bone marrow’s capacity to produce blood cells may decline as a result of alemtuzumab injection. Call your doctor right away if you have any of the following symptoms: Small crimson or purple blood patches on your body, odd bruises, pale skin, weakness, or extreme exhaustion are all signs of abnormal bleeding. You may bleed profusely from tiny cuts or scrapes, so you will need to take particular care to prevent damage while receiving treatment. Avoid contact sports and other potentially harmful activities, shave with an electric razor, and clean your teeth with a gentle toothbrush.

The injection of alemtuzumab may impair your ability to fight infection and raise your chance of contracting a serious or fatal infection. If you experience any infection-related symptoms, such as fever, coughing, sore throat, or a wound that is red, leaking pus, or takes a long time to heal, call your doctor right once.

During your treatment with alemtuzumab injection, you will need to take precautions to reduce the risk of infection. In order to avoid infection, your doctor will prescribe specific drugs. These medications must be taken both during and for at least two months after your therapy. Follow the directions on the prescription exactly. Additionally, you ought to often wash your hands and keep away from persons who are contagious due to colds and coughs. Only irradiated blood products should be used for any blood transfusions necessary while receiving alemtuzumab injectable treatment (blood products that have been treated to prevent a certain serious reaction that may occur in people who have weakened immune systems).

When receiving a dose of alemtuzumab injection, you could have a severe or fatal reaction. Each drug dose will be administered to you in a medical setting, and your doctor will closely watch over you throughout the process. To stop these responses, your doctor will prescribe certain drugs. These pills should be consumed just before each dose of alemtuzumab. In order to give your body time to get used to the drug, your doctor will start you on a low dose of alemtuzumab and then gradually increase it. Inform your doctor right once if you suffer any of the following symptoms during or following your infusion: a high temperature, chills, nausea, vomiting, hives, rash, itching, sluggish breathing, constriction of the neck, swelling of the eyes, face, lips, tongue, or throat, hoarseness, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, or chest discomfort.

Keep all of your appointments with your physician and the lab. To monitor your body’s reaction to the alemtuzumab injection, your doctor will prescribe a number of tests both during and after your therapy.

Discuss the dangers of receiving an injection of alemtuzumab with your doctor.

Treatment for B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia with alemtuzumab injection (B-CLL; a slowly developing cancer in which too many of a certain type of white blood cell accumulate in the body). Alemtuzumab belongs to a group of drugs known as monoclonal antibodies. It operates by triggering the immune system to eliminate cancer cells.

Another kind of alemtuzumab for treating multiple sclerosis is an injectable called Lemtrada (a disease in which the nerves do not function properly; you may experience weakness, numbness, loss of muscle coordination and problems with vision, speech, and bladder control). Only alemtuzumab injection (Campath) for B-CLL is discussed in this monograph. To learn more about alemtuzumab injection if you are receiving it for multiple sclerosis, read this monograph (Multiple Sclerosis).

In a hospital or doctor’s office, a doctor or nurse will administer alemtuzumab injection intravenously (into a vein) over the course of at least two hours. For the first three to seven days, alemtuzumab injection is often administered in progressively increasing doses to give the body time to adjust to the medication. Alemtuzumab injection is often administered three times per week on alternate days (typically Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) for up to 12 weeks after the body has adjusted to the required amount.

You may feel tired from the drugs you take before each alemtuzumab injection dose. You should usually invite a relative or friend to accompany you when you receive your medication and to drive you home once it has taken effect.

Despite the fact that your condition may start to get better 4 to 6 weeks after you start receiving alemtuzumab injections, your treatment will most likely last 12 weeks. Depending on how well the drug works for you and any adverse effects you have, your doctor will decide whether to continue your therapy and may change your dose.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more details if you believe this drug should be used for something else.

Before receiving alemtuzumab injection,

• If you have an allergy to alemtuzumab injection or any other drug, let your doctor and pharmacist know right away.
• Inform your doctor and pharmacist about all prescription and over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, dietary supplements, and herbal products that you are now taking or intend to use.
• If you have or have previously had any medical issues, let your doctor know.
• If you or your partner are expecting a child, let your doctor know right away. Before beginning therapy, you must perform a pregnancy test, and you must use birth control to avoid getting pregnant while receiving treatment and for three months after your last dose. Call your doctor right away if you find out you’re pregnant while receiving alemtuzumab injectable therapy. The foetus could be harmed by alemtuzumab.
• Inform your doctor if you are nursing a child. While receiving alemtuzumab treatment and for three months following the last dosage, refrain from breastfeeding.
• Without consulting your doctor, avoid receiving any live vaccines during or soon after your alemtuzumab injectable treatment. Pregnant women who receive alemtuzumab injections should speak with their paediatrician because their unborn child might not be able to receive live immunisations for a while.
• You should be aware that this medicine may lower both male and female fertility. Discuss the dangers of receiving alemtuzumab with your doctor.
• Inform the surgeon or dentist that you are receiving an alemtuzumab injection if you are undergoing surgery, including dental surgery.

Keep eating normally unless your doctor instructs you otherwise.

Side effects from alemtuzumab injection are possible. If any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away, let your doctor know right once:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Reduced appetite
• Mouth ulcers
• Headache
• Anxiety
• Having trouble falling or staying asleep
• Body part shaking that is uncontrollable
• Muscle ache

Some adverse effects can be very harmful. Call your doctor right away or seek emergency medical attention if you develop any of these signs or any of the ones detailed in the IMPORTANT WARNING section:

• Abrupt weakness or numbness in an arm or limb, particularly on one side of the body; drooping on one side of the face; or having trouble comprehending or speaking
• Leg and ankle swelling, weight gain, and weariness. or frothing urine (may occur months or years after your final dose)

Other negative effects of alemtuzumab are possible. If you have any strange side effects while taking this medicine, call your doctor right away.

You or your doctor can submit a report to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting programme online or by phone if you have a serious side event (1-800-332-1088).

Call the poison control hotline at 1-800-222-1222 in the event of an overdose. Additionally, information can be found online at https://www.poisonhelp.org/help. Call 911 right once if the person has collapsed, experienced a seizure, is having difficulty breathing, or cannot be roused.

Overdose signs could include the following:

• Throat tightening sensation
• Having trouble breathing
• Cough
• Less urinations
• Abnormal bleeding or bruising
• On the skin, reddish or purple patches
• Light skin
• Weakness
• Excessive fatigue
• Infection symptoms such as a sore throat, fever, chills, and others
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Hives
• Rash
• Itching
• Eye, face, mouth, throat, lips, or tongue swelling
• Rapid or erratic heartbeat
• Fainting
• Chest pain

Ask your pharmacist any queries you may have regarding the injection of alemtuzumab.

You should keep a written record of every medication you take, including any over-the-counter (OTC) items, prescription drugs, and dietary supplements like vitamins and minerals. This list should be brought with you whenever you see a doctor or are admitted to the hospital. You should always have this information with you in case of emergencies.