Formulary
Palivizumab: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Palivizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that binds to fusion protein A on the surface of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which inhibits the virus...
MedNext Academy | 3 min read
Palivizumab: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Palivizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that binds to fusion protein A on the surface of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which inhibits the virus...
Drug action
Palivizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody that binds to fusion protein A on the surface of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which inhibits the virus from entering the host cell, thereby preventing RSV infection.
Indications and dose
**Seasonal immunisation of high-risk children against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (under expert supervision) for palivizumab**
- **Neonate** (By intramuscular injection): 15 mg/kg once a month for 5 months, to start at the beginning of RSV season (calendar week 40); if treatment is started later in RSV season, give up to 5 doses until the end of calendar week 8. Where a course has been interrupted, restart and give monthly up until the end of calendar week 8.
- **Child 1-23 months** (By intramuscular injection): 15 mg/kg once a month for 5 months, to start at the beginning of RSV season (calendar week 40); if treatment is started later in RSV season, give up to 5 doses until the end of calendar week 8. Where a course has been interrupted, restart and give monthly up until the end of calendar week 8.
Interactions
**Other interactions (4):**
- In the phase III IMpact-RSV study in the premature and bronchopulmonary dysplasia paediatric populations, the proportions of patients in the placebo and palivizumab groups who received routine...
- Palivizumab may interfere with immune-based RSV diagnostic tests, such as some antigen detection based assays.
- In addition, palivizumab inhibits virus replication in cell culture and, therefore, may also interfere with viral culture assays.
- Palivizumab does not interfere with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction-based assays.
Clinical governance
**Author:** MedNext Clinical Team. **Clinical reviewer:** Dr Shameer Deen, MBBS, MS, MRCS. **Sources:** BNF, Indian Pharmacopoeia, CIMS India. **Correction:** Report errors at support@mednext.academy.
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