Before taking Doxil, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions. Especially tell your doctor if you:
- are allergic to Doxil or to any of its ingredients
- are allergic to other forms of doxorubicin
- have heart problems
- have blood problems
- have liver
- are pregnant or breastfeeding
Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.
Doxil is usually administered by a healthcare provider in a medical setting making it unlikely for an overdose to occur. However, if overdose is suspected, seek emergency medical attention.
Serious side effects have been reported with Doxil. See the “Drug Precautions” section.
Common side effects of Doxil include the following:
- weakness
- fatigue
- nausea
- vomiting
- fever
- anorexia
- inflammation within the mouth
- diarrhea
- constipation
- redness, swelling, blisters, and pain on the palms of the hands and/or the bottom of the feet
- rash
This is not a complete list of Doxil side effects. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
Doxil (generic: doxorubicin) is a prescription medication used to treat certain types of cancer. Doxil belongs to a group of drugs called anthracyclines, which work by stopping the growth of cancer cells in your body.
This medication is available in an injectable form to be given directly into a vein (IV) by a healthcare professional.
Common side effects of Doxil include weakness, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting.
Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Especially tell your doctor if you take:
- other forms of doxorubicin (the generic form of Doxil) such as Adriamycin, Rubex, Hydroxydaunomycin, and Hydroxydoxorubicin
- other types of chemotherapy medication such as cytarabine (DepoCyt), dexrazoxane (Zinecard), mercaptopurine (Purinethol), streptozocin (Zanosar)
- phenobarbital (Luminal)
- phenytoin (Dilantin)
This is not a complete list of Doxil drug interactions. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.
Serious side effects have been reported with Doxil including the following:
- heart toxicity. Toxicity from Doxil may occur, which may result in disease of the heart muscle itself or heart failure.
- infusion related reactions. Symptoms of a reaction due to the injection of Doxil into the veins include flushing, shortness of breath, facial swelling, headache, chills, chest pain, back pain, tightness in the chest and throat, fever, fast heart rate, itching, rash, fainting, difficulty breathing, asthma, and lowered blood pressure. If this occurs, your doctor will decide to either slow the rate at which Doxil is injected into your veins or will stop the injection altogether.
- stomatitis. If you experience painful redness, swelling, or sores in the mouth (symptoms of stomatitis), notify your healthcare provider right away.
- hand-and-foot syndrome. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any of the following signs or symptoms of on your hands and/or feet:
- abnormal sense of touch
- numbness
- pain
- burning or tingling
- redness
- swelling
- sensitivity to touch
- lowered blood counts. This is medically known as bone marrow suppression. Your doctor may monitor for bone marrow suppression, as it can lead to thrombocytopenia, anemia, and leukocytopenia.
- thrombocytopenia. This is a condition in which your blood has a lower than normal number of blood cell fragments called platelets. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have the following signs and symptoms of thrombocytopenia:
- mild to serious bleeding
- purple, brown, and red bruises (purpura)
- small red or purple dots on your skin (petechiae)
- prolonged bleeding, even from minor cuts
- bleeding or oozing from the mouth or nose, especially nosebleeds or bleeding from brushing your teeth
- abnormal vaginal bleeding (especially heavy menstrual flow)
- blood in the urine or stool or bleeding from the rectum. Blood in the stool can appear as red blood or as a dark, tarry color. Taking iron supplements also can cause dark, tarry stools.
- headaches and other neurological symptoms. These problems are very rare, but you should discuss them with your doctor.
- anemia. This is a condition in which your blood has a lower than normal number of red blood cells. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have the following signs and symptoms of anemia:
- shortness of breath
- dizziness
- headache
- coldness in the hands and feet
- pale skin
- chest pain
- thrombocytopenia. This is a condition in which your blood has a lower than normal number of blood cell fragments called platelets. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have the following signs and symptoms of thrombocytopenia:
- leukopenia. This is a condition when there are a low number of white blood cells in your body. These cells help fight infections. You may become more susceptible to infections and even to negative reactions of live vaccines if you are taking Doxil. Tell your healthcare provider if you are feeling “under the weather” or are running a fever. Also, let your healthcare provider know if you are scheduled to receive a vaccination, as live vaccinations can make you sick.
- fever from infection. Notify your healthcare provider if you develop a fever of 100.5°F or higher.
- nausea, vomiting, tiredness, weakness, rash, or mild hair loss. Notify your healthcare provider if you experience any of these symptoms.
- discolored body fluids. After injection with Doxil, your urine and other body fluids may appear reddish-orange. This nontoxic reaction is due to the color of the product and will go away as the drug is eliminated from the body.
Do not take Doxil if you:
- are allergic to Doxil or to any of its ingredients
- are allergic to other forms of doxorubicin
- Store Doxil under refrigeration at 2°-8°C (36°-46°F).
- Avoid freezing.
- Keep this and all medicines out of the reach of children.
Doxil is a prescription medication used to treat certain types of cancer including ovarian cancer, AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma, multiple myeloma.
This medication may be prescribed for other uses. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.
Talk to your doctor or your pharmacist about the following black box warning for this medication:
- Myocardial damage may lead to congestive heart failure and may occur as the total cumulative dose of doxorubicin HCl approaches 550 mg/m2. Cardiac toxicity may also occur at lower cumulative doses with mediastinal irradiation or concurrent cardiotoxic agents.
- Acute infusion-related reactions, sometimes reversible upon terminating or slowing infusion, occurred in up to 10% of patients. Serious and sometimes fatal allergic/anaphylactoid-like infusion reactions have been reported. Medications/emergency equipment to treat such reactions should be available for immediate use.
- Severe myelosuppression may occur.
- Reduce dosage in patients with impaired hepatic function.
- Accidental substitution of DOXIL resulted in severe side effects. Do not substitute on mg per mg basis with doxorubicin hydrochloride.
Tell your doctor if you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed.
It is not known if Doxil crosses into human milk. Because many medications can cross into human milk and because of the possibility for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants with use of this medication, a choice should be made whether to stop nursing or stop the use of this medication. Your doctor and you will decide if the benefits outweigh the risk of using Doxil.
Medications can interact with certain foods. In some cases, this may be harmful and your doctor may advise you to avoid certain foods. In the case of Doxil, there are no specific foods that you must exclude from your diet when receiving this medication.
Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.
The FDA categorizes medications based on safety for use during pregnancy. Five categories – A, B, C, D, and X, are used to classify the possible risks to an unborn baby when a medication is taken during pregnancy.
Doxil falls into category D. It has been shown that use of Doxil in pregnant women caused some babies to be born with problems. However, in some serious situations, the benefit of using this medication may be greater than the risk of harm to the baby. It is recommended that women of childbearing potential should avoid pregnancy while receiving treatment with Doxil.
Take Doxil exactly as prescribed.
This medication is available in an injectable form to be given directly into a vein (IV) by a healthcare professional.
If you miss a dose, take the missed dose as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and take your next dose at the regular time. Do not take two doses of Doxil at the same time.
Doxil is available as 20 mg/10 mL and 50 mg/25 mL solutions for injection.
Active ingredient: doxorubicin hydrochloride
Inactive ingredients: cholesterol, fully hydrogenated soy phosphatidylcholine, MPEG-DSPE, ammonium sulfate, histidine, hydrochloric acid and/or sodium hydroxide, hydrogenated soybean lecithin, and sucrose
Take Doxil exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully.
The Doxil dose your doctor recommends will be based on the following:
- the condition being treated
- other medical conditions you have
- other medications you are taking
- how you respond to this medication
- adverse reactions that may occur while taking Doxil
- how much of this medication you have received in the past
- your weight
The recommended dose for Doxil in treating ovarian cancer is 50 mg/m2 every 4 weeks for a minimum of 4 cycles.
The recommended dose for Doxil in treating AIDS-related Kaposi’s syndrome is 20 mg/m2 every 3 weeks.
The recommended dose for Doxil in treating multiple myeloma is 30 mg/m2 on day 4 after treatment with bortezomib (Velcade) every 3 weeks.