What is Temodar?
Temodar is a brand-name prescription medication containing Temozolomide, an alkylating agent. It comes in the form of a capsule for oral administration; capsules contain between 5 and 250mg of Temozolomide. Temodar is also available as a generic alternative, sold as Temozolomide. We carry both the brand-name and generic product at My Drug Center.
How long does Temodar stay in your system?
The amount of time a drug will stay present in the body for will vary between each individual based on certain personal factors. Age, blood circulation, and diet are just some of the factors that determine how fast (or slow) a medication will take to clear the system. However, you can use the half-life of the drug to get an estimate. It takes a drug about 5 half-lives to clear the system following your last dose. Temodar, with a half-life of 1.8 hours, will only remain in the system for about 9 hours.
Who makes Temodar?
Temodar is manufactured by a very reputable pharmaceutical company, one of the largest in the world. Merck & Co., founded in 1891 as a subsidiary of Merck (founded in 1668), became an independent company as of 1917, and as of 1999, was approved to market Temodar. Merck & Co also developed many other medical treatments you may have heard of or even used before, such as the first mumps and rubella vaccine, the popular diabetes medication Januvia, and many others.
What are the side effects of Temodar?
Some common side effects of Temodar include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, changes in taste, hair loss, constipation, and tiredness. There may also be additional side effects not listed here. Most side effects are normal and occur as your body adjusts to the new medication; they should not alarm you. However, if your side effects become unmanageable or do not go away over time, you may want to consult your doctor.
What is Temodar used to treat?
Temodar is used as an additional treatment along with radiation therapy to help treat certain types of brain tumors in adults; more specifically, anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain tumors. Using Temodar for these high grade brain tumors can help improve the survival rate for patients; a studies shows that patients who used Temodar for two years had an overall survival rate of 26.5% compared to 10.4% for those who didn’t have the additional Temodar treatment with their radiation therapy.
How much does Temodar cost?
Temodar is a very expensive medication, especially in the United States. It is a chemotherapy drug that falls under the classification of “specialty drugs”, which are drugs that are high in cost and used to treat complex or rare conditions. Temodar isn’t generally covered by Medicare either, resulting in the entire cost coming from the patient’s pocket. Internationally, the prices for Temodar are more affordable, even without insurance or medicare. For example, a supply of 5 – 100mg tablets at My Drug Center is about $476.00; the same supply in the United States has an average retail cost that is about 5 times as much, sometimes more. To take advantage of these international prices, all you need is a valid prescription.