Calcium Folinate 10 mg/ml Injection and Calcium Folinate Tablets

Description

Folinic acid (calcium folinate or leucovorin) is not a chemotherapy drug. It is a metabolically active, reduced form of folic acid rapidly absorbed and extensively metabolized in the liver to other folic acid derivatives.

Calcium Folinate 10 mg/ml Injection

Each vial of 10 ml solution contains 10 mg/ml of folinic acid provided as calcium folinate.

Excipients with known effects:

Calcium folinate 50 mg/5 ml solution for injection contains 16.74 mg of sodium in each 5 ml vial.

Calcium folinate 100 mg/10 ml solution for injection contains 33.5 mg of sodium in each 10 ml vial.

Calcium folinate 300 mg/30 ml solution for injection contains 100.5 mg of sodium in each 30 ml vial.

Calcium Folinate Tablets

The active substance is folinic acid. Each tablet contains 15 milligrams (mg) of folinic acid as calcium folinate hydrate.

The other ingredients are microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, and lactose.

The tablets are round and light yellow. They are scored and marked “CF” on one side.

It is supplied in a screw cap, plastic bottle containing 10 tablets.

Uses

Calcium folinate is used to make chemotherapy work better or to reduce its side effects. It is indicated in:

Neutralizing the immediate toxic effects of folic acid antagonists, e.g., Methotrexate.

Calcium Folinate Rescue - a treatment technique using calcium folinate in conjunction with folic acid antagonists, e.g., Methotrexate, to minimize systemic toxicity.

The treatment of megaloblastic anaemias due to sprue, nutritional deficiency, pregnancy, infancy, liver disease, and malabsorption syndrome when oral therapy is not possible.

Calcium folinatemay be given with the chemotherapy drugs: fluorouracil (5FU), tegafur-uracil, and Methotrexate. Folinic acid is often given with 5FU to treat cancers of the colon, rectum, and other parts of the digestive system. It makes 5FU work better. It may also be given with tegafur-uracil, which is a similar drug to 5FU. Methotrexate is used to treat different types of cancer. Folinic acid is mainly used with higher doses of Methotrexate to help reduce the side effects. This is sometimes called folinic acid rescue or leucovorin rescue.