Temodal Capsules

Temodal is a medicine that contains the active substance temozolomide. It is available as capsules (5 mg, 20 mg, 100 mg, 140 mg, 180 mg and 250 mg) and as a powder to be made up into a solution for infusion (drip into a vein).

What is Temodal used for?
Temodal is an anticancer medicine. It is used to treat malignant glioma (brain tumours) in the following groups of patients:

• Adults with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (an aggressive type of brain tumour). Temodal is used first with radiotherapy and then on its own;
• Adults and children three years of age and over with malignant glioma such as glioblastoma multiforme or anaplastic astrocytoma, when the tumour has returned or got worse after standard treatment. Temodal is used on its own in these patients.

How is Temodal used?
Treatment with Temodal should be prescribed by a doctor with experience in the treatment of brain tumours.

The dose of Temodal depends on body surface area (calculated using the patient’s height and weight) and ranges from 75 to 200 mg per square metre, once a day. The dose and the number of doses depend on the type of tumour being treated, whether the patient has been treated before, whether Temodal is being used alone or with radiotherapy, and how the patient responds to treatment.

How does Temodal work?
The active substance in Temodal, temozolomide, belongs to a group of anticancer medicines called alkylating agents. In the body, temozolomide is converted to another compound called MTIC. MTIC binds to the DNA of cells while they are reproducing, which stops cell division. As a result, the cancer cells cannot divide, slowing down the growth of tumours.

What is the risk associated with Temodal?
The most common side effects with Temodal (seen in more than 1 patient in 10) are nausea (feeling sick), vomiting, constipation, loss of appetite, alopecia (hair loss), headache, fatigue (tiredness), convulsions (fits), rash, neutropenia or lymphopenia (low white-blood-cell counts), and thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet counts). Patients receiving the solution for infusion may also have injection-site reactions, such as pain, irritation, itching, warmth, swelling and redness, as well as bruising. For the full list of all side effects reported with Temodal, see the package leaflet.