Efalizumab Side Effects

Please note - some side effects for Efalizumab may not be reported. Always consult your doctor or healthcare specialist for medical advice. You may also report side effects to the FDA at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/ or 1-800-FDA-1088 (1-800-332-1088).

Side Effects of Efalizumab - for the Consumer

Efalizumab

All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor, side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome when using Efalizumab:

Acne; back pain; headache; muscle aches; nausea; swelling in the arms or legs; vomiting.

Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); blood in the stool; dark urine; dizziness when standing or sitting up; fainting; hearing changes or hearing loss; infection or flu-like symptoms (eg, fever, chills, cough, sore throat, stiff neck); new growths or lumps; new or worsening arthritis symptoms (eg, joint pain, redness, stiffness, swelling); new or worsening nervous system problems (eg, confusion; loss of balance; numbness, tingling, or weakness in the arms, legs, or face; trouble walking or talking); red, swollen, blistered, or peeling skin; severe or persistent headache; shortness of breath; unusual bruising or bleeding; unusual tiredness or weakness; vision changes; worsening of psoriasis; yellowing of the skin or eyes.

Side Effects by Body System

Hematologic

Hematologic side effects including lymphocytosis (40%), leukocytosis (26%), and thrombocytopenia (0.3%) have been reported.

Nervous system

Nervous system side effects including headache (32%) have been reported. Cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, facial palsy, and transverse myelitis have been observed in patients receiving efalizumab in the postmarketing setting. A case of efalizumab-induced aseptic meningitis and a case of efalizumab-induced isolated cerebral Lupus-like syndrome have also been reported.

Immunologic

The most common nonspecific infection was upper respiratory infection.

Serious infections requiring hospitalization have included cellulitis, pneumonia, abscess, sepsis, bronchitis, gastroenteritis, aseptic meningitis, Legionnaire's disease, and vertebral osteomyelitis. (Some of the patients had more than one infection.)

Immunologic side effects including infection (29%) have been reported. The proportion of patients with serious infection was 0.4%. Inflammatory, potentially immune-mediated adverse reactions resulting in hospitalization included inflammatory arthritis (0.4%) and rare cases of interstitial pneumonitis. Transverse myelitis, bronchiolitis obliterans, aseptic meningitis, idiopathic hepatitis, sialadenitis, and sensorineural hearing loss have been reported rarely. Postmarketing reports of serious infections have included necrotizing fasciitis and tuberculosis pneumonia. Bacterial sepsis with seeding of distant sites, severe pneumonia with neutropenia, and worsening of infection (e.g. cellulitis, pneumonia) despite antimicrobial treatment have also been reported. Three confirmed, and one possible case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) have been reported. Three of those patients have died. A case of immune-mediated pancytopenia has been reported.

General

General side effects including chills (13%), pain (10%), flu syndrome (7%), fever (7%), and asthenia have been reported.

Gastrointestinal

Gastrointestinal side effects including nausea (11%) have been reported.

Musculoskeletal

Musculoskeletal side effects including myalgia (8%), back pain (4%) and arthralgia have been reported.

Dermatologic

Serious adverse events of psoriasis included pustular, erythrodermic, and guttate subtypes.

Dermatologic side effects including acne (4%) and serious psoriasis (0.7%) have been reported. Four cases of papular psoriasis, one case of hypertrichosis, and one case of repigmentation of vitiligo have also been reported.

Oncologic

Malignancies reported in the efalizumab-treated patients included non-melanoma skin cancer, non-cutaneous solid tumors, Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and malignant melanoma. The majority of the malignancies were non-melanoma skin cancers (50% basal cell and 50% squamous cell).

Oncologic side effects have included an overall incidence of malignancies of any kind at 1.8 per 100 patient-years for efalizumab treated patients compared to 1.6 per 100 patient-years for placebo-treated patients.

Hypersensitivity

Hypersensitivity side effects were reported at a rate of 8% (versus 7% in the placebo group).

Hepatic

Hepatic side effects including a mean elevation in alkaline phosphatase (5 Units/L) has been reported. A shift to above normal values of alkaline phosphatase was reported in 4% of efalizumab-treated patients. Higher numbers of efalizumab-treated patients experienced elevations to above normal in two or more liver function tests than in placebo-treated patients (3.1% versus 1.5%).

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