Orencia Side Effects

Generic Name: Abatacept

Please note - some side effects for Orencia 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 Orencia - for the consumer

Orencia

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 Orencia:

Dizziness; headache; mild pain, swelling, or redness at the injection site; nausea; sore throat; stomach upset; stuffy nose.

Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); chills, fever, or persistent sore throat; flu-like symptoms; increased cough; increased, decreased, or painful urination; night sweats; severe or persistent dizziness; shortness of breath; unexplained weight loss; unusual lumps or growths; wheezing.

For the professional

Orencia

General

The most serious adverse reactions were serious infections and malignancies.

The most commonly reported adverse events (occurring in ≥10% of patients treated with Orencia) were headache, upper respiratory tract infection, nasopharyngitis, and nausea.

The adverse events most frequently resulting in clinical intervention (interruption or discontinuation of Orencia) were due to infection. The most frequently reported infections resulting in dose interruption were upper respiratory tract infection (1.0%), bronchitis (0.7%), and herpes zoster (0.7%). The most frequent infections resulting in discontinuation were pneumonia (0.2%), localized infection (0.2%), and bronchitis (0.1%).

Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying and controlled conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not predict the rates observed in a broader patient population in clinical practice.

The data described herein reflect exposure to Orencia in patients with active RA in placebo-controlled studies (1955 patients with Orencia, 989 with placebo). The studies had either a double-blind, placebo-controlled period of 6 months (258 patients with Orencia, 133 with placebo) or 1 year (1697 patients with Orencia, 856 with placebo). A subset of these patients received concomitant biologic DMARD therapy, such as a TNF blocking agent (204 patients with Orencia, 134 with placebo).

Infections

In the placebo-controlled trials, infections were reported in 54% of Orencia-treated patients and 48% of placebo-treated patients. The most commonly reported infections (reported in 5-13% of patients) were upper respiratory tract infection, nasopharyngitis, sinusitis, urinary tract infection, influenza, and bronchitis. Other infections reported in fewer than 5% of patients at a higher frequency (>0.5%) with Orencia compared to placebo, were rhinitis, herpes simplex, and pneumonia.

Serious infections were reported in 3.0% of patients treated with Orencia and 1.9% of patients treated with placebo. The most common (0.2-0.5%) serious infections reported with Orencia were pneumonia, cellulitis, urinary tract infection, bronchitis, diverticulitis, and acute pyelonephritis.

Malignancies

In the placebo-controlled portions of the clinical trials (1955 patients for a median of 12 months), the overall frequencies of malignancies were similar in the Orencia- and placebo-treated patients (1.3% and 1.1%, respectively). However, more cases of lung cancer were observed in Orencia-treated patients (4, 0.2%) than placebo-treated patients (0). In the cumulative Orencia clinical trials (placebo-controlled and uncontrolled, open-label) a total of 8 cases of lung cancer (0.21 cases per 100 patient-years) and 4 lymphomas (0.10 cases per 100 patient-years) were observed in 2688 patients (3827 patient-years). The rate observed for lymphoma is approximately 3.5-fold higher than expected in an age- and gender-matched general population based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database.5 Patients with RA, particularly those with highly active disease, are at a higher risk for the development of lymphoma. Other malignancies included skin, breast, bile duct, bladder, cervical, endometrial, lymphoma, melanoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, ovarian, prostate, renal, thyroid, and uterine cancers. The potential role of Orencia in the development of malignancies in humans is unknown.

Infusion-Related Reactions and Hypersensitivity Reactions

Acute infusion-related events (adverse reactions occurring within 1 hour of the start of the infusion) in Studies III, IV, and V were more common in the Orencia-treated patients than the placebo patients (9% for Orencia, 6% for placebo). The most frequently reported events (1-2%) were dizziness, headache, and hypertension.

Acute infusion-related events that were reported in >0.1% and≤1% of patients treated with Orencia included cardiopulmonary symptoms, such as hypotension, increased blood pressure, and dyspnea; other symptoms included nausea, flushing, urticaria, cough, hypersensitivity, pruritus, rash, and wheezing. Most of these reactions were mild to moderate. Fewer than 1% of Orencia-treated patients discontinued due to an acute infusion-related event. In controlled trials, 6 Orencia-treated patients compared to 2 placebo-treated patients discontinued study treatment due to acute infusion-related events.

Of 2688 patients treated with Orencia in clinical trials, there were two cases of anaphylaxis or anaphylactoid reactions. Other events potentially associated with drug hypersensitivity, such as hypotension, urticaria, and dyspnea, each occurred in less than 0.9% of Orencia-treated patients and generally occurred within 24 hours of Orencia infusion. Appropriate medical support measures for the treatment of hypersensitivity reactions should be available for immediate use in the event of a reaction.

Adverse Reactions in Patients with COPD

In Study V, there were 37 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who were treated with Orencia and 17 COPD patients who were treated with placebo. The COPD patients treated with Orencia developed adverse events more frequently than those treated with placebo (97% vs 88%, respectively). Respiratory disorders occurred more frequently in Orencia-treated patients compared to placebo-treated patients (43% vs 24%, respectively) including COPD exacerbation, cough, rhonchi, and dyspnea. A greater percentage of Orencia-treated patients developed a serious adverse event compared to placebo-treated patients (27% vs 6%), including COPD exacerbation (3 of 37 patients [8%]) and pneumonia (1 of 37 patients [3%]).

Other Adverse Reactions

Adverse events occurring in 3% or more of patients and at least 1% more frequently in Orencia-treated patients during placebo-controlled RA studies are summarized in Table 6.

Immunogenicity

Antibodies directed against the entire abatacept molecule or to the CTLA-4 portion of abatacept were assessed by ELISA assays in RA patients for up to 2 years following repeated treatment with Orencia. Thirty-four of 1993 (1.7%) patients developed binding antibodies to the entire abatacept molecule or to the CTLA-4 portion of abatacept. Because trough levels of abatacept can interfere with assay results, a subset analysis was performed. In this analysis it was observed that 9 of 154 (5.8%) patients that had discontinued treatment with Orencia for over 56 days developed antibodies.

Samples with confirmed binding activity to CTLA-4 were assessed for the presence of neutralizing antibodies in a cell-based luciferase reporter assay. Six of 9 (67%) evaluable patients were shown to possess neutralizing antibodies.

No correlation of antibody development to clinical response or adverse events was observed.

The data reflect the percentage of patients whose test results were positive for antibodies to abatacept in specific assays, and are highly dependent on the sensitivity and specificity of the assays. Additionally, the observed incidence of antibody positivity in an assay may be influenced by several factors, including sample handling, timing of sample collection, concomitant medication, and underlying disease. For these reasons, comparison of the incidence of antibodies to abatacept with the incidence of antibodies to other products may be misleading.

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