[Serious adverse drug reactions with tramadol reported to the French pharmacovigilance database between 2011 and 2015]. / Effets indésirables « graves ¼ du tramadol : bilan 2011­2015 de pharmacovigilance en France.

BACKGROUND: Tramadol is an opioid and a serotonin reuptake inhibitor drug. It is approved for moderate to severe pain in adults. The aim of this study was to assess tramadol safety through a national pharmacovigilance study in France since dextropropoxyphen withdrawal in 2011. METHODS: We described all serious adverse drug reactions (SADRs) reported with tramadol in adults in the French National PharmacoVigilance Database from August 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2015. RESULTS: We identified 1512 SADRs during the study period. The most frequently reported SADRs were neurological (29.4%, including troubles of consciousness [13.2%] and seizures [6.7%]), psychiatric (22.8%, including confusions [14.6%] and hallucinations [7.3%]) and gastrointestinal (17.0%, mostly nausea and vomiting [9.6%]). Unexpected SADRs were also reported: hyponatremia, cholestatic hepatitis, serotonin syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates new unexpected hepatic and metabolic SADRs. Tramadol alone can induce serotonin syndrome in overdose situations.

PRODIGE 59-DURIGAST trial: A randomised phase II study evaluating FOLFIRI + Durvalumab ± Tremelimumab in second-line of patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinomas present poor overall survival (OS). First-line chemotherapy regimen for patients with HER2-negative tumours is based on a doublet or triplet of fluoropyrimidine plus platinum salt ± taxane. Second-line chemotherapy (Docetaxel or Irinotecan) improves OS which nonetheless remains poor (around 5 months). The first results of immune checkpoint inhibitors (anti-PD-1) combined with chemotherapy in metastatic gastric and GEJ cancers were discordant in recent phase III trials. Data on dual-blockade (anti-PD-L1 or anti-PD-1 plus anti-CTLA-4) plus chemotherapy are lacking. DURIGAST is a randomised, multicenter, non-comparative, phase II study, evaluating safety and efficacy of FOLFIRI plus Durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) versus FOLFIRI plus Durvalumab and Tremelimumab (anti-CTLA-4) as second-line treatment of advanced gastric and GEJ adenocarcinoma. The primary objective is the rate of patients alive and without progression at 4 months. The main inclusion criteria are: patients with advanced gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma, pre-treated with fluoropyrimidine + platinum salt ± taxane. Due to a lack of data on FOLFIRI, Durvalumab and Tremelimumab combination, a 2-step safety run-in phase has been performed before the randomised phase II. The safety run-in phase did not show any safety issue and the randomised phase II starts in September 2020.

Methylprednisolone-related liver injury: A descriptive study using the French pharmacovigilance database.

PURPOSE: Hepatotoxicity associated with methylprednisolone (MP) is rarely reported in the literature. The aim of the present study was to review the characteristics of acute liver injury associated with intravenous (IV) or oral MP registered in the French pharmacovigilance database (FPD). METHODS: All cases with MP coded as suspected, concomitant, or interacting drug associated with liver injury as the adverse effect reported up to May 2016 were extracted from the FPD. Cases were identified using the "Drug related hepatic disorders" Standard Medical Query. RESULTS: A total of 97 cases of liver injury associated with MP were analysed; 58.8% were women and the median age was 46 years (range: 1-91). MP was used for an autoimmune disease in 47.6% of cases including 26 cases of multiple sclerosis, and was IV in 79.4% of cases. Nearly three-quarters of patients (73,2%) had a hepatocellular type of injury, the severity of which was mainly mild (45%) or moderate (31%). Most patients (92%) spontaneously and fully recovered within a mean 38.4 days. A rechallenge using the IV route was performed in 13 patients and for 10 (76.9%) this was positive (the initial type of injury was hepatocellular for all these cases). Regarding IV route of administration (n=77), MP was coded as the only suspected drug in 22% of cases. DISCUSSION: The results suggest that IV MP causality should be considered in case of acute liver injury while data for oral MP is insufficient; systematic liver monitoring for high-dose IV MP may be recommended.