Get your patient on Cyanocobalamin - Cyanocobalamin injection (Cyanocobalamin)

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Cyanocobalamin - Cyanocobalamin injection prescribing information

Indications & Usage

INDICATIONS AND USAGE

Cyanocobalamin is indicated for Vitamin B 12 deficiencies due to malabsorption which may be associated with the following conditions:

Addisonian (pernicious) anemia

Gastrointestinal pathology, dysfunction, or surgery, including gluten enteropathy or sprue, small bowel bacterial overgrowth, total or partial gastrectomy

Fish tapeworm infestation

Malignancy of pancreas or bowel

Folic acid deficiency

It may be possible to treat the underlying disease by surgical correction of anatomic lesions leading to small bowel bacterial overgrowth, expulsion of fish tapeworm, discontinuation of drugs leading to vitamin malabsorption (see Drug/Laboratory Test Interactions ), use of a gluten-free diet in nontropical sprue, or administration of antibiotics in tropical sprue. Such measures remove the need for long-term administration of cyanocobalamin.

Requirements of Vitamin B 12 in excess of normal (due to pregnancy, thyrotoxicosis, hemolytic anemia, hemorrhage, malignancy, hepatic and renal disease) can usually be met with oral supplementation.

Cyanocobalamin injection is also suitable for the Vitamin B 12 absorption test (Schilling test).

Dosage & Administration

DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION

Avoid using the intravenous route. Use of this product intravenously will result in almost all of the vitamin being lost in the urine.

Pernicious Anemia

Parenteral Vitamin B 12 is the recommended treatment and will be required for the remainder of the patient's life. The oral form is not dependable. A dose of 100 mcg daily for six or seven days should be administered by intramuscular or deep subcutaneous injection. If there is clinical improvement and if a reticulocyte response is observed, the same amount may be given on alternate days for seven doses, then every three to four days for another two to three weeks. By this time hematologic values should have become normal. This regimen should be followed by 100 mcg monthly for life. Folic acid should be administered concomitantly if needed.

Patients with Normal Intestinal Absorption

Where the oral route is not deemed adequate, initial treatment similar to that for patients with pernicious anemia may be indicated depending on the severity of the deficiency. Chronic treatment should be with an oral B 12 preparation. If other vitamin deficiencies are present, they should be treated.

Schilling Test

The flushing dose is 1,000 mcg.

Parenteral drug products should be inspected visually for particulate matter and discoloration prior to administration, whenever solution and container permit.

Contraindications

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Sensitivity to cobalt and/or Vitamin B 12 is a contraindication.

Adverse Reactions

ADVERSE REACTIONS

Generalized

Anaphylactic shock and death have been reported with administration of parenteral Vitamin B 12 (see WARNINGS ).

Cardiovascular

Pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure early in treatment; peripheral vascular thrombosis.

Hematological

Polycythemia vera.

Gastrointestinal

Mild transient diarrhea.

Dermatological

Itching; transitory exanthema.

Miscellaneous

Feeling of swelling of entire body.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Cyanocobalamin Injection, USP is a sterile solution of cyanocobalamin for intramuscular or subcutaneous use.

Each mL contains 1,000 mcg cyanocobalamin; sodium chloride 0.9%; benzyl alcohol 1.5%; Water for Injection q.s.; Hydrochloric acid and/or sodium hydroxide for pH adjustment if necessary (4.5-7.0).

Cyanocobalamin appears as dark, red crystals or as an amorphous or crystalline, red powder. It is very hygroscopic in the anhydrous form, and sparingly soluble in water (1:80). It is stable to autoclaving for short periods at 121°C. The Vitamin B 12 coenzymes are very unstable in light.

The chemical name is 5,6-dimethyl-benzimidazolyl cyanocobamide. The cobalt content is 4.34%. The structural formula is represented below:

Referenced Image
Pharmacology

CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY

Vitamin B 12 is essential to growth, cell reproduction, hematopoiesis, nucleoprotein and myelin synthesis.

Cyanocobalamin is quantitatively and rapidly absorbed from intramuscular and subcutaneous sites of injection; the plasma level of the compound reaches its peak within one hour after intramuscular injection.  Absorbed Vitamin B 12 is transported via specific B 12 binding proteins, transcobalamin I and II to the various tissues. The liver is the main organ for Vitamin B 12 storage.

Within 48 hours after injection of 100 or 1,000 mcg of Vitamin B 12 , 50 to 98% of the injected dose may appear in the urine. The major portion is excreted within the first eight hours. Intravenous administration results in even more rapid excretion with little opportunity for liver storage.

Gastrointestinal absorption of Vitamin B 12 depends on the presence of sufficient intrinsic factor and calcium ions. Intrinsic factor deficiency causes pernicious anemia, which may be associated with subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord. Prompt parenteral administration of Vitamin B 12 prevents progression of neurologic damage.

The average diet supplies about 5 to 15 mcg/day of Vitamin B 12 in a protein-bound form that is available for absorption after normal digestion. Vitamin B 12 is not present in foods of plant origin, but is abundant in foods of animal origin. In people with normal absorption, deficiencies have been reported only in strict vegetarians who consume no products of animal origin (including no milk products or eggs).

Vitamin B 12 is bound to intrinsic factor during transit through the stomach; separation occurs in the terminal ileum in the presence of calcium, and Vitamin B 12 enters the mucosal cell for absorption. It is then transported by the transcobalamin binding proteins. A small amount (approximately 1% of the total amount ingested) is absorbed by simple diffusion, but this mechanism is adequate only with very large doses. Oral absorption is considered too undependable to rely on in patients with pernicious anemia or other conditions resulting in malabsorption of Vitamin B 12 .

Cyanocobalamin is the most widely used form of Vitamin B 12 , and has hematopoietic activity apparently identical to that of the antianemia factor in purified liver extract. Hydroxocobalamin is equally as effective as cyanocobalamin, and they share the cobalamin molecular structure.

How Supplied/Storage & Handling

HOW SUPPLIED

NDC Number
Cyanocobalamin mcg/mL
Volume
70069- 005 -10
1,000
1 mL
70069- 172 -10
10 mL
70069- 172 -25

1 mL multiple dose vial, packaged 25 vials per tray.

10 mL multiple dose vial, packaged as;

- 10 vials per tray and

- 25 vials per tray.

Store at 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F) [see USP Controlled Room Temperature].

PROTECT FROM LIGHT

Use only if solution is clear and seal intact.

For Product Inquiry call 1-800-417-9175

Manufactured for:

Somerset Therapeutics, LLC

Somerset, NJ 08873

Made in India

Code No.: KR/DRUGS/KTK/28/289/97

ST-CYC/P/06

Revised: 04/2025

1201236

Data SourceWe receive information directly from the FDA and PrescriberPoint is updated as frequently as changes are made available
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