Leucovorin Calcium 15 mg, 40 tablets: profile, composition and research

Reference page for Leucovorin Calcium 15 mg, 40 tablets. Active substance: Лейковорин кальция (фолинат кальция) / Leucovorin calcium (calcium folinate).

Key facts

What leucovorin calcium is

Leucovorin, also called calcium folinate or folinic acid, is a reduced form of folate. It belongs to the same vitamin group as folic acid but differs from it in structure.

Folic acid has to undergo several conversions in the body before it becomes active. Leucovorin already sits at the next step of that pathway, so it works even when the usual conversion is impaired.

The tablets contain 15 mg of the active substance, and the pack holds 40 of them. The medicine is used mainly in oncology, where its role is to protect healthy tissue and to strengthen the action of certain anticancer agents.

How leucovorin works

Replenishing folate

The substance restores the pool of reduced folates that a cell needs to synthesise DNA. This matters most for rapidly dividing tissues, such as bone marrow and mucous membranes.

Rescue after methotrexate

Methotrexate blocks the enzyme that converts folates into their active form. Leucovorin bypasses that block and supplies healthy cells with the material they need, which is why it is called a rescue agent.

Enhancing fluoropyrimidines

In combination with fluorouracil, leucovorin stabilises the complex the drug forms with the enzyme thymidylate synthase. The anticancer effect becomes more pronounced, and the approach is known as biochemical modulation.

Approved uses

One main direction is support of treatment with high-dose methotrexate. Leucovorin helps to reduce damage to mucous membranes and the suppression of blood formation associated with that treatment.

The second direction is combination therapy of malignant tumours, above all colorectal cancer, where leucovorin is used together with medicines of the fluorouracil group.

Beyond that, the medicine is used in folate deficiency when ordinary folic acid does not produce the needed effect. It does not replace folic acid for the prevention of neural tube defects in pregnancy, and that difference matters.

Published research

Primary sources, verified against PubMed:

• Leucovorin (folinic acid) rescue for high-dose methotrexate: A review., PubMed 35929573 (J Clin Pharm Ther, 2022).
• Randomized phase III study of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin compared with fluorouracil/folinic acid plus oxaliplatin as first-line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer., PubMed 18421053 (J Clin Oncol, 2008).
• A European consensus recommendation on the management of delayed methotrexate elimination: supportive measures, leucovorin rescue and glucarpidase treatment., PubMed 39356310 (J Cancer Res Clin Oncol, 2024).

Listed for reference. Publication of a study is not a claim about this particular product.

Precautions

• This is a prescription medicine. Prescribing and monitoring belong to an oncologist.
• It must not be used in case of hypersensitivity to leucovorin or to other components of the tablet.
• In megaloblastic anaemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency the medicine is not used: it can mask the picture of the disease.
• When it follows methotrexate, the regimen set by the physician must be followed strictly.
• Tell your doctor about every other medicine you take: interactions are possible.
• Any unusual symptom during treatment should be reported to a doctor.

Frequently asked