Methotrexate 500 mg / 20 ml Suppliers & Bulk Manufacturers

Available Forms: Injection

Available Strengths: 500 mg / 20 ml

Reference Brands:

Category: Oncology Cancer Care

Methotrexate 500 mg/20 mL (25 mg/mL) is a high-dose presentation used in cancer treatment, including osteosarcoma, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and CNS lymphoma, given with folinic acid rescue. Preserved and preservative-free forms are separate products: only preservative-free methotrexate may be given intrathecally or in high-dose protocols. Buyers must specify which is required.

Product Description:

Methotrexate blocks dihydrofolate reductase, starving the cell of the reduced folate it needs to build purines and thymidine. The dose determines what kind of drug it is. Low weekly doses are anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory; high doses given with folinic acid rescue are frankly cytotoxic and can be pushed far beyond the normally lethal range because the rescue restores normal cells while tumour cells, which take up the drug more avidly, are killed.

The concentration here belongs to the high-dose oncology setting: osteosarcoma, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, central nervous system lymphoma and choriocarcinoma. High-dose protocols require urinary alkalinisation, vigorous hydration, drug level monitoring and timed folinic acid rescue. Renal impairment delays clearance and rapidly becomes dangerous. Mucositis, myelosuppression, hepatotoxicity and pneumonitis occur. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories and proton pump inhibitors interfere with elimination and are withheld.

Sourcing notes. Off patent, widely multi-source, inexpensive. One point overrides all others when ordering: preserved and preservative-free presentations exist, and only the preservative-free product may be used intrathecally or in high-dose protocols. Buyers must state which is required. Cytotoxic containment; protect from light.