OMEGAVEN SIDE EFFECTS

SIDE EFFECTS

The following clinically significant adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling:

• Risk of death in preterm infants due to pulmonary lipid accumulation
• Hypersensitivity reactions
• Risk of infections
• Fat overload syndrome
• Refeeding syndrome
• Hypertriglyceridemia
• Aluminum toxicity

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 safety database for Omegaven reflects exposure in 189 pediatric patients (19 days to 15 years of age) treated for a median of 14 weeks (3 days to 8 years) in two clinical trials. Omegaven was administered at a maximum dose of 1 g/kg/day as the lipid component of a PN regimen which also included dextrose, amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements; 158 (84%) of these patients received concurrent lipids from enteral nutrition.

Adverse reactions that occurred in more than 5% of patients who received Omegaven and with a higher incidence than the comparator group are shown in Table 1. Patients had a complicated medical and surgical history prior to receiving Omegaven treatment and the mortality was 13%. Underlying clinical conditions prior to the initiation of Omegaven therapy included prematurity, low birth weight, necrotizing enterocolitis, short bowel syndrome, ventilator dependence, coagulopathy, intraventricular hemorrhage, and sepsis.

Table 1 Adverse Reactions in Greater Than 5% of Omegaven-Treated Pediatric Patients with PNAC

Twelve (6%) Omegaven-treated patients were listed for liver transplantation (1 patient was listed 18 days before treatment, and 11 patients after a median of 42 days [range: 2 days to 8 months] of treatment); 9 (5%) received a transplant after a median of 121 days (range: 25 days to 6 months) of treatment, and 3 (2%) were taken off the waiting list because cholestasis resolved.

One hundred thirteen (60%) Omegaven-treated patients reached DBil levels less than 2 mg/dL and AST or ALT levels less than 3 times the upper limit of normal, with median AST and ALT levels for Omegaven-treated patients at 89 and 65 U/L, respectively, by the end of the study.

Median hemoglobin levels and platelet counts for Omegaven-treated patients at baseline were 10.2 g/dL and 173 × 10⁹/L, and by the end of the study these levels were 10.5 g/dL and 217 × 10⁹/L, respectively. Adverse reactions associated with bleeding were experienced by 74 (39%) of Omegaven-treated patients.

Median glucose levels at baseline and the end of the study were 86 and 87 mg/dL for Omegaven-treated patients, respectively. Hyperglycemia was experienced by 13 (7%) Omegaven-treated patients.

Median triglyceride levels at baseline and the end of the study were 121 mg/dL and 72 mg/dL for Omegaven-treated patients respectively. Hypertriglyceridemia was experienced by 5 (3%) Omegaven-treated patients.

The triene:tetraene (Mead acid:arachidonic acid) ratio was used to monitor essential fatty acid status in Omegaven-treated patients only in Study 1 (n = 123)/ The median triene:tetraene ratio was 0.02 (interquartile range: 0.01 to 0.03) at both baseline and the end of the study. Blood samples for analysis may have been drawn while the lipid emulsion was being infused and patients received enteral or oral nutrition.

Postmarketing Experience

The following adverse reaction has been identified with use of Omegaven in another country. Because this reaction was reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not possible to reliably estimate its frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure.

Life-threatening hemorrhage following a central venous catheter change was reported in a 9-month-old infant with intestinal failure who received PN with Omegaven as the sole lipid source; he had no prior history of bleeding, coagulopathy, or portal hypertension.

SRC: NLM .