Commonly asked questions about HALAVEN® (eribulin mesylate) Injection
HALAVEN is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with liposarcoma that cannot be treated with surgery or that has spread to other parts of the body, and who have received treatment with a certain type of anticancer medicine.
To learn more about the disease, go here.
When used alone after a certain type of anticancer treatment, HALAVEN is the first and only chemotherapy that is proven to help some patients with advanced liposarcoma live longer.
In a clinical trial, HALAVEN was compared to dacarbazine, another chemotherapy. Among the 143 patients with advanced liposarcoma in the trial, some patients lived longer and some did not live as long. Patients with advanced liposarcoma who were treated with HALAVEN lived an average of 15.6 months compared with patients treated with the other chemotherapy, who lived an average of 8.4 months. This means that patients who received HALAVEN lived 86% longer than patients who received the other chemotherapy.
HALAVEN was studied in patients with 3 types of advanced liposarcoma with intermediate to high tumor grade. This included patients with dedifferentiated, myxoid/round cell, and pleomorphic liposarcoma.
HALAVEN can cause serious side effects, including
- Low white blood cell count (neutropenia). This can lead to serious infections that could lead to death. Your health care provider will check your blood cell counts. Call your health care provider right away if you develop fever (temperature above 100.5°F), chills, cough, or burning or pain when you urinate, as any of these can be symptoms of infection
- Numbness, tingling, or pain in your hands or feet (peripheral neuropathy). Peripheral neuropathy is common with HALAVEN and sometimes can be severe. Tell your health care provider if you have new or worsening symptoms of peripheral neuropathy
- Your health care provider may delay or decrease your dose or stop treatment with HALAVEN if you have side effects
Before you receive HALAVEN, tell your health care provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you
- have liver or kidney problems
- have heart problems, including a problem called congenital long QT syndrome
- have low potassium or low magnesium in your blood
- are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. HALAVEN can harm your unborn baby. Tell your health care provider right away if you become pregnant or think you are pregnant during treatment with HALAVEN. Females who are able to become pregnant should use an effective form of birth control during treatment with HALAVEN and for at least 2 weeks after the final dose of HALAVEN and males should use an effective form of birth control when having sex with female partners who are able to become pregnant during treatment with HALAVEN and for 3½ months (14 weeks) after the final dose of HALAVEN
- are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if HALAVEN passes into your breast milk. Do not breastfeed during treatment with HALAVEN and for 2 weeks after the final dose of HALAVEN
Tell your health care provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.
What are the possible side effects of HALAVEN?
HALAVEN can cause changes in your heartbeat (called QT prolongation). This can cause irregular heartbeats. Your health care provider may do heart monitoring (electrocardiogram or ECG) or blood tests during your treatment with HALAVEN to check for heart problems.
The most common side effects of HALAVEN in adults with liposarcoma include tiredness, nausea, hair loss (alopecia), constipation, stomach pain, and fever.
Your health care provider will do blood tests before and during treatment while you are taking HALAVEN. The most common changes to blood tests in adults with liposarcoma include low white blood cell count (neutropenia) and decreased blood levels of potassium or calcium.
For more information about HALAVEN, please see full Prescribing Information.
HALAVEN is a prescription medicine developed from a natural substance found in a sea sponge, and is the only medicine discovered in its class of chemotherapy.
Based on early laboratory studies, HALAVEN works by limiting the growth of cancer cells, and ultimately killing them.
Tell your health care provider
- If you have liver or kidney problems or if you have heart problems, including congenital long QT syndrome
- If you have low potassium or low magnesium in your blood
- If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. HALAVEN may harm your unborn baby
- If you are breastfeeding or planning to breastfeed
- About all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements
HALAVEN is given by an injection into your vein (known as an intravenous, or IV, infusion). Each HALAVEN dose is given over a short period of 2 to 5 minutes. One cycle of treatment lasts 21 days, and consists of 1 IV infusion once a week for 2 weeks, and then 1 week without HALAVEN.
It is possible that there may be a reason your health care provider may delay or decrease your dose or stop treatment. Talk to him or her about any changes to your dosing schedule.
To see what a treatment cycle looks like, go here.
Your health care provider will decide how many cycles of HALAVEN treatment you will receive.
Coverage is different for different insurance plans. The Eisai Assistance Program (EAP) can help you get more information about your coverage, co-pays, deductibles, and other insurance information, or help you identify sources of potential coverage if you do not have insurance, including eligibility for the Eisai Patient Assistance Program (PAP). Eisai cannot guarantee coverage of any claim.
Eisai also offers co-pay assistance to eligible patients through the HALAVEN $0 Co-Pay Program. You can visit www.eisaireimbursement.com to download an enrollment form.
To learn more about the PAP for HALAVEN and the HALAVEN $0 Co-Pay Program
- Call 1.866.61.EISAI (1.866.613.4724) Monday–Friday, 8 AM to 8 PM, ET
- Go to www.eisaireimbursement.com