(esketamine)
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Last Updated: 03/25/2024
The incidence of nausea and vomiting from phase 3 studies in TRD and major depressive disorder and active suicidal ideation with intent are described in the Table: Incidence of Nausea and Vomiting in Phase 3 Trials.
SHORT-TERM TRIALS IN TRD | |
---|---|
Trial Design | Incidence of Nausea and Vomiting |
Popova et al (2019)8 Study Treatment Patients self-administered either SPRAVATO or PBO 2 times per week for 4 weeks during the DB phase under supervision of clinical staff. A new OL oral AD (duloxetine, escitalopram, sertraline, or venlafaxine XR) was administered daily for the duration of the DB phase following a fixed titration schedule. Study Groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
|
Fedgchin et al (2019)15 Study Treatment Patients self-administered either SPRAVATO or PBO 2 times per week for 4 weeks during the DB phase under supervision of clinical staff. A new OL oral AD was initiated (see Popova et al above). Study Groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
|
Ochs-Ross et al (2020)16 Study Treatment Patients self-administered either SPRAVATO or PBO 2 times per week for 4 weeks during the DB phase under supervision of clinical staff. A new OL oral AD was initiated (see Popova et al above). Study groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
|
Chen et al (2023)5 conducted a randomized, DB, active-controlled, multicenter study in patients with TRD aged 18-64 years in China and the USA to evaluate the efficacy and safety of flexibly dosed (56 or 84 mg) SPRAVATO+oral AD vs oral AD+PBO after 4 weeks of treatment. Study Treatment Patients self-administered either SPRAVATO or PBO 2 times per week for 4 weeks during the DB phase under supervision of clinical staff. A new OL oral AD was initiated (see the Popova et al [2019] study above). Study Groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
Incidence rates were from the DB phase. |
LONG-TERM TRIALS IN TRD | |
Daly et al (2019)17 Study Treatment During the induction phase (initial 4 weeks), patients self-administered either SPRAVATO or PBO 2 times per week. In the optimization (12 weeks) and maintenance (variable duration) phases, nasal spray medication was administered weekly for the first 4 weeks, then individualized to once weekly or once every other week based on severity of depression symptoms. A new OL oral AD (duloxetine, escitalopram, sertraline, or venlafaxine XR) was administered daily for the duration of the DB phase following a fixed titration schedule during the induction phase and remaining unchanged during the maintenance phase. Study Groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
|
Wajs et al (2020)9 conducted an OL, multicenter, study to evaluate the long-term (up to 1 year of exposure) safety, tolerability and efficacy of flexibly-dosed SPRAVATO nasal spray (28, 56 or 84 mg) plus a newly initiated oral AD in patients with TRD. Study Treatment During the induction phase (initial 4 weeks [IND]), patients self-administered either SPRAVATO or PBO 2 times per week. In the optimization and maintenance phases (48 weeks [OP/MA]), nasal spray medication was reduced to once weekly for the first 4 weeks, and then individualized to once weekly or once every other week based on severity of depression symptoms. A new OL oral AD was initiated (see Daly et al above). Study Groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
|
Zaki et al (2023)4 conducted an OL extension study to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of individualized, intermittently dosed SPRAVATO+oral AD in patients with TRD. Study Treatment During the induction phase (initial 4 weeks), patients self-administered a flexible dose of SPRAVATO 2 times per week. In the OP/MA phase (variable duration), patients administered SPRAVATO once weekly, every other week, or every 4 weeks based on CGI-S and tolerability. Study Groups Starting dose of 28 mg (patients aged ≥65 years), 56 mg, or 84 mg SPRAVATO (N=1148): induction phase, n=458; OP/MA phase, n=1110 (690 were directly enrolled; 420 were continued from the induction phase). | Nausea
Vomiting
|
Reif et al (2023)3 conducted an OL, 32-week, randomized, phase 3b study that evaluated the efficacy and safety of SPRAVATO vs QUE-XR in combination with ongoing oral AD (SSRI or SNRI) in the treatment of patients with TRD. Study Treatment In the treatment phase (initial 8 weeks) patients were randomized to receive flexible doses of SPRAVATO+oral AD or QUE-XR+oral AD; flexible dosing was continued for 24 weeks in the maintenance phase. SPRAVATO was administered 2 times per week during weeks 1-4, once weekly during weeks 5-8, and once weekly or every other week during weeks 9-32.18 Study Groups
| Nausea18
Vomiting18
|
PHASE 3 TRIALS IN MDSI | |
Fu et al (2019)11 conducted a DB, randomized, PBO-controlled study (ASPIRE-I) to assess the efficacy and safety of SPRAVATO 84 mg plus comprehensive SOCa Study Treatment Patients received either SPRAVATO+SOCa or PBO+SOC 2 times per week for 4 weeks followed by ~2 months of follow-up with SOC only. Study Groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
|
Ionescu et al (2019)12 conducted a second identically designed study (ASPIRE-II) as above. Study Groups
| Nausea
Vomiting
|
Abbreviations: AD, antidepressant; CGI-S, Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale; DB, double-blind; IND, induction; MDSI, major depressive disorder (MDD) with suicidal ideation and intent; OL, open-label; OP/MA, optimization and maintenance; PBO, placebo nasal spray; QUE-XR, quetiapine extended release; SNRI, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor; SOC, standard of care; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; TEAE, treatment-emergent adverse event; TRD, treatment-resistant depression.aSOC consisted of newly initiated or optimized AD along with at least 5 days of initial hospitalization and enhanced by twice-weekly intensive visits during DB phase. |
Williamson et al (2018)19
Of 345 patients who received SPRAVATO+AD, the incidence of nausea (reported as an AE) was 28.3% over 4 weeks of treatment. Of those patients who experienced nausea once, twice, or not at all during the first week of treatment, the table Rates of Recurrence of Nausea reports the associated proportion of patients who experienced a recurrence of nausea during the subsequent 3 weeks of treatment.
AE | 4-Week Incidence | Week 1 Incidence (number of monitoring periods [0-2] AE observed) | Number of Patients with AEs in Weeks 2-4 | Number of Sessions (0-6) in which an AE was experienced in Weeks 2-4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nausea | 28.3% | None - 79.7% (n=275) | → | 5.5% (n=15) | 1.07 |
Once - 20.3% (n=70) | → | 44.3% (n=31) | 2.37 | ||
Twice - 5.2% (n=18) | → | 66.7% (n=12) | 3.62 | ||
Abbreviations: AE, adverse event. Data sample was a combination of data from the 3 intranasal SPRAVATO groups from the fixed-dose and flexible-dose studies (n=345). The first-week incidence groups are not mutually exclusive - the “Twice” group is a subset of the “Once” group. |
A similar post hoc analysis by Williamson et al (2022)20
Nausea was reported in 14% (133/949) of patients during week 1. The more frequently nausea was reported during the first week of treatment, the higher the rate of recurrence in subsequent time periods (see Table: Rates of Nausea Recurrence According to Frequency of Nausea Occurrence in Week 1).
Postdose Monitoring Period | No. of Patients | Overall Incidence (%) | None in Week 1 (%, n/N) | Once in Week 1 (%, n/N) | Twice in Week 1 (%, n/N) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Weeks 2-4 | 949 | 9.2 | 5.1 (42/816) | 28.6 (32/112) | 61.9 (13/21) |
Weeks 5-8 | 918 | 4.0 | 1.7 (13/786) | 16.1 (18/112) | 30.0 (6/20) |
Months 3-6 | 595 | 7.2 | 4.5 (23/506) | 20.8 (16/77) | 33.3 (4/12) |
Months 6-12 | 595 | 6.7 | 4.9 (25/506) | 18.2 (14/77) | 8.3 (1/12) |
n/N represents the number of patients who experienced a recurrence of nausea/number of patients who contributed data to the time period depicted in the row. |
REMS patient monitoring forms completed by certified US healthcare settings and pharmacies from 5 March 2019 to 5 January 2023 identified 34,110 patients who received at least 1 SPRAVATO treatment session and a total of 815,172 treatment sessions.13 Nausea and vomiting were reported as serious adverse events on the REMS patient monitoring forms (n=1,580) with an occurrence of 7.1% (n=112) and 7.6% (n=120), respectively. In a separate search of the SPRAVATO global medical safety database, which included AEs reported from the REMS, 2,437 AEs (out of 658,360) were reported to be serious, of which 3.6% (n=89) involved nausea and 4.4% (n=107) involved vomiting.
An analysis was conducted using the FAERS to identify relevant safety signals for SPRAVATO.14 A case/non-case study design was utilized in which cases were defined by reports about SPRAVATO, while non-cases were represented by AEs recorded for all other drugs in FAERS over the first year of SPRAVATO approval (March 2019 to first quarter 2020). If the proportion of AEs of interest was greater in cases versus non-cases, then this was considered a disproportionality signal. AEs were classified into four categories, according to their predictability: expected AEs with a detected signal, expected AEs without a signal, disease-related AEs, or unexpected AEs.
Nausea and vomiting were classified as expected AEs with a detected signal. Nausea was reported as an AE with 75 reports, a reporting odds ratio of 2.79 (95% CI, 2.21-3.51), and a Bayesian information component of 1.43 (95% CI, 1.05-1.71). Vomiting was reported as an AE with 74 reports, a reporting odds ratio of 4.75 (95% CI, 3.77-5.99), and a Bayesian information component of 2.17 (95% CI, 1.78-2.45). The authors noted that the results must be interpreted with caution, partly due to the FAERS database having limitations, including the inability to infer causality, barriers to reporting, limitations in the quality of information received, and the inability to calculate an incidence rate due to a lack of a denominator.14
A literature search of MEDLINE®
1 | Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Clinical Review. NDA 211243 - SPRAVATO (esketamine) - Reference ID: 4398871. 2019- [cited 2024 March 01]. Available from: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/nda/2019/211243Orig1s000MedR.pdf. |
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