Alemtuzumab: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Alemtuzumab is a cd52-directed cytolytic antibody sold in the U.S. under 2 brand and generic names, for b-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Cd52-Directed Cytolytic Antibody
- Treats
- B-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- 2 products — Campath and Lemtrada
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- Boxed warning
- Boxed warning
How alemtuzumab is dosed
From the FDA label for Campath (application BLA103948). Other alemtuzumab products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Administer as an intravenous infusion over 2 hours. ( 2.1 ) Escalate to recommended dose of 30 mg/day three times per week for 12 weeks. ( 2.1 ) Premedicate with oral antihistamine and acetaminophen. ( 2.2 ) 2.1 Dosing Schedule and Administration Administer as an intravenous infusion over 2 hours. Do not administer as intravenous push or bolus. Recommended Dosing Regimen Gradually escalate to the maximum recommended single dose of 30 mg. Escalation is required at initiation of dosing or if dosing is held ≥7 days during treatment. Escalation to 30 mg ordinarily can be accomplished in 3 to 7 days. Escalation Strategy: – Administer 3 mg daily until infusion-related reactions are ≤ Grade 2 [see Adverse Reactions (6.1) ] . – Then administer 10 mg daily until infusion-related reactions are ≤ Grade 2. – Then administer 30 mg/day three times per week on alternate days (e.g., Mon-Wed-Fri). The total duration of therapy, including dose escalation, is 12 weeks. Single doses of greater than 30 mg or cumulative doses greater than 90 mg per week increase the incidence of pancytopenia. 2.2 Recommended Concomitant Medications Premedicate with diphenhydramine (50 mg) and acetaminophen (500–1000 mg) 30 minutes prior to first infusion and each dose escalation. Institute appropriate medical management (e.g., glucocorticoids, epinephrine, meperidine) for infusion-related reactions as needed [see…
Alemtuzumab side effects
The following clinically significant adverse reactions are discussed in greater detail in other sections of the label: Cytopenias [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] Infusion-Related Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] Immunosuppression/Infections [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] Most common adverse reactions (≥10%): cytopenias, infusion-related reactions, cytomegalovirus (CMV) and other infections, nausea, emesis, diarrhea, and insomnia. ( 6 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Genzyme Corporation at 1-877-4-CAMPATH (1-877-422-6728) or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. The data below reflect exposure to CAMPATH in 296 patients with CLL of whom 147 were previously untreated and 149 received at least 2 prior chemotherapy regimens. The median duration of exposure was 11.7 weeks for previously untreated patients and 8 weeks for previously treated patients. The most common adverse reactions with CAMPATH are: infusion-related reactions (pyrexia, chills, hypotension, urticaria, nausea, rash, tachycardia, dyspnea), cytopenias (neutropenia,…
Who shouldn’t take alemtuzumab
None. None ( 4 )
Alemtuzumab drug interactions
No formal drug interaction studies have been performed with CAMPATH.
Every alemtuzumab product we track (2)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
| # | Drug | Rating | Type | Form | Generic? | Pharmacy pays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 70/100 | Prescription | Injectable | No data | — | View → | |
| 2 | 70/100 | Prescription | Injectable | No data | — | View → |
Alemtuzumab and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for alemtuzumab: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadNo information is available on the clinical use of alemtuzumab during breastfeeding. Because alemtuzumab is a large protein molecule with a molecular weight of 145,454 Da, the amount in milk is likely to be very low. It is also likely to be partially destroyed in the infant's gastrointestinal tract and absorption by the infant is probably minimal. Until more data become available, alemtuzumab should be used with caution or avoided in nursing mothers during treatment for multiple sclerosis, especially while nursing a newborn or preterm infant. Waiting for at least 2 weeks postpartum to resume therapy may minimize transfer to the infant. The manufacturer recommends that women not breastfeed during treatment and for at least 3 months following the last dose.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised November 15, 2023. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about alemtuzumab
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 10,041 reports naming alemtuzumab, and the FDA flagged 95% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- headache1,153 reports
- fatigue1,081 reports
- pyrexia993 reports
- nausea803 reports
- lymphocyte count decreased689 reports
- rash663 reports
- cytomegalovirus infection607 reports
- dyspnoea579 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean alemtuzumab caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is alemtuzumab?
Campath (Alemtuzumab) is a cd52-directed cytolytic antibody used to treat B-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
What kind of drug is alemtuzumab?
The FDA classifies alemtuzumab as a cd52-directed cytolytic antibody. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take alemtuzumab with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run alemtuzumab against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What brand names is alemtuzumab sold under?
We track 2 alemtuzumab-containing products in the U.S.: Campath and Lemtrada. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does alemtuzumab come in?
Across the brands we track, alemtuzumab is currently marketed as injectable, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic alemtuzumab?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled alemtuzumab product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Alemtuzumab: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/alemtuzumab
- MLA
- “Alemtuzumab: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/alemtuzumab.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for alemtuzumab on DailyMed (NIH) ↗ — including its boxed warning in full.