Sylvant

Sylvant is a medicine that is used to treat multicentric Castleman’s disease in adults who are not infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8). Castleman’s disease is a disorder of the lymphatic system (a network of vessels that transport fluid from tissues through the lymph nodes and into the bloodstream) in which cells in lymph nodes start growing abnormally, causing benign tumours. Multicentric means that the disease affects several lymph nodes as well as other organs in the body. Symptoms can include tiredness, sweating at night, fever, peripheral neuropathy (pins and needles due to nerve damage) and swelling of liver and spleen. Castleman’s disease is rare, and Sylvant was designated an ‘orphan medicine’ (a medicine used in rare diseases) on 30 November 2007. Sylvant contains the active substance siltuximab.