FDA approves Genzyme drug to support bone marrow transplant recovery

ROCKVILLE, Md. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug by Genzyme that helps increase the number of blood stem cells for bone marrow transplantation in patients with certain forms of blood cancer, according to an FDA statement Thursday.

Mozobil (plerixafor) is for use with the growth factor granulocyte-colony stimulating factor for treatment of adults with multiple myeloma or non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.

Before receiving high-dose chemotherapy or radiation therapy, patients with these forms of cancer sometimes undergo a procedure known as apheresis, in which blood stem cells are collected and stored for infusion after therapy.

Patients receive G-CSF to help release and collect stem cells from the bone marrow. When used with G-CSF, Mozobil boosts the number of stem cells released from the bone marrow into the blood stream.

“Collecting the millions of cells needed for a bone marrow transplant can take hours or days,” director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research’s Office of Oncology Drug Products Richard Pazdur said in a statement. “Mobozil provides a new therapeutic option for patients with certain types of blood cancers by increasing the number of stem cells collected in a given time period to be reinfused after therapy.”