A blinded in vitro analysis of the intrinsic immunogenicity of hepatotoxic drugs: implications for preclinical risk assessment.

In vitro preclinical drug-induced liver injury (DILI) risk assessment relies largely on the use of hepatocytes to measure drug-specific changes in cell function or viability. Unfortunately, this does not provide indications toward the immunogenicity of drugs and/or the likelihood of idiosyncratic reactions in the clinic. This is because the molecular initiating event in immune DILI is an interaction of the drug-derived antigen with MHC proteins and the T-cell receptor. This study utilized immune cells from drug-naïve donors, recently established immune cell coculture systems and blinded compounds with and without DILI liabilities to determine whether these new methods offer an improvement over established assessment methods for the prediction of immune-mediated DILI. Ten blinded test compounds (6 with known DILI liabilities; 4 with lower DILI liabilities) and 5 training compounds, with known T-cell-mediated immune reactions in patients, were investigated. Naïve T-cells were activated with 4/5 of the training compounds (nitroso sulfamethoxazole, vancomycin, Bandrowski's base, and carbamazepine) and clones derived from the priming assays were activated with drug in a dose-dependent manner. The test compounds with DILI liabilities did not stimulate T-cell proliferative responses during dendritic cell-T-cell coculture; however, CD4+ clones displaying reactivity were detected toward 2 compounds (ciprofloxacin and erythromycin) with known liabilities. Drug-responsive T-cells were not detected with the compounds with lower DILI liabilities. This study provides compelling evidence that assessment of intrinsic drug immunogenicity, although complex, can provide valuable information regarding immune liabilities of some compounds prior to clinical studies or when immune reactions are observed in patients.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiovascular disease prevention and management.

How the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not fully understood. In this study, we used medication data as a proxy for CVD management using routinely collected, de-identified, individual-level data comprising 1.32 billion records of community-dispensed CVD medications from England, Scotland and Wales between April 2018 and July 2021. Here we describe monthly counts of prevalent and incident medications dispensed, as well as percentage changes compared to the previous year, for several CVD-related indications, focusing on hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes. We observed a decline in the dispensing of antihypertensive medications between March 2020 and July 2021, with 491,306 fewer individuals initiating treatment than expected. This decline was predicted to result in 13,662 additional CVD events, including 2,281 cases of myocardial infarction and 3,474 cases of stroke, should individuals remain untreated over their lifecourse. Incident use of lipid-lowering medications decreased by 16,744 patients per month during the first half of 2021 as compared to 2019. By contrast, incident use of medications to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus, other than insulin, increased by approximately 623 patients per month for the same time period. In light of these results, methods to identify and treat individuals who have missed treatment for CVD risk factors and remain undiagnosed are urgently required to avoid large numbers of excess future CVD events, an indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ethnic Diversity and Warfarin Pharmacogenomics.

Warfarin has remained the most commonly prescribed vitamin K oral anticoagulant worldwide since its approval in 1954. Dosing challenges including having a narrow therapeutic window and a wide interpatient variability in dosing requirements have contributed to making it the most studied drug in terms of genotype-phenotype relationships. However, most of these studies have been conducted in Whites or Asians which means the current pharmacogenomics evidence-base does not reflect ethnic diversity. Due to differences in minor allele frequencies of key genetic variants, studies conducted in Whites/Asians may not be applicable to underrepresented populations such as Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, American Indians/Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians/other Pacific Islanders. This may exacerbate health inequalities when Whites/Asians have better anticoagulation profiles due to the existence of validated pharmacogenomic dosing algorithms which fail to perform similarly in the underrepresented populations. To examine the extent to which individual races/ethnicities are represented in the existing body of pharmacogenomic evidence, we review evidence pertaining to published pharmacogenomic dosing algorithms, including clinical utility studies, cost-effectiveness studies and clinical implementation guidelines that have been published in the warfarin field.

Similarity and consistency assessment of three major online drug-drug interaction resources.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to explore the level of agreement on drug-drug interaction (DDI) information listed in three major online drug information resources (DIRs) in terms of: (1) interacting drug pairs; (2) severity rating; (3) evidence rating; and (4) clinical management recommendations. METHODS: We extracted information from the British National Formulary (BNF), Thesaurus and Micromedex. Following drug name normalisation, we estimated the overlap of the DIRs in terms of DDI. We annotated clinical management recommendations either manually, where possible, or through application of a machine learning algorithm. RESULTS: The DIRs contained 51 481 (BNF), 38 037 (Thesaurus) and 65 446 (Micromedex) drug pairs involved in DDIs. The number of common DDIs across the three DIRs was 6970 (13.54% of BNF, 18.32% of Thesaurus and 10.65% of Micromedex). Micromedex and Thesaurus overall showed higher levels of similarity in their severity ratings, while the BNF agreed more with Micromedex on the critical severity ratings and with Thesaurus on the least significant ones. Evidence rating agreement between BNF and Micromedex was generally poor. Variation in clinical management recommendations was also identified, with some categories (i.e., Monitor and Adjust dose) showing higher levels of agreement compared to others (i.e., Use with caution, Wash-out, Modify administration). CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable variation in the DDIs included in the examined DIRs, together with variability in categorisation of severity and clinical advice given. DDIs labelled as critical were more likely to appear in multiple DIRs. Such variability in information could have deleterious consequences for patient safety, and there is a need for harmonisation and standardisation.

Monitoring indirect impact of COVID-19 pandemic on services for cardiovascular diseases in the UK.

OBJECTIVE: To monitor hospital activity for presentation, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases during the COVID-19) pandemic to inform on indirect effects. METHODS: Retrospective serial cross-sectional study in nine UK hospitals using hospital activity data from 28 October 2019 (pre-COVID-19) to 10 May 2020 (pre-easing of lockdown) and for the same weeks during 2018-2019. We analysed aggregate data for selected cardiovascular diseases before and during the epidemic. We produced an online visualisation tool to enable near real-time monitoring of trends. RESULTS: Across nine hospitals, total admissions and emergency department (ED) attendances decreased after lockdown (23 March 2020) by 57.9% (57.1%-58.6%) and 52.9% (52.2%-53.5%), respectively, compared with the previous year. Activity for cardiac, cerebrovascular and other vascular conditions started to decline 1-2 weeks before lockdown and fell by 31%-88% after lockdown, with the greatest reductions observed for coronary artery bypass grafts, carotid endarterectomy, aortic aneurysm repair and peripheral arterial disease procedures. Compared with before the first UK COVID-19 (31 January 2020), activity declined across diseases and specialties between the first case and lockdown (total ED attendances relative reduction (RR) 0.94, 0.93-0.95; total hospital admissions RR 0.96, 0.95-0.97) and after lockdown (attendances RR 0.63, 0.62-0.64; admissions RR 0.59, 0.57-0.60). There was limited recovery towards usual levels of some activities from mid-April 2020. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial reductions in total and cardiovascular activities are likely to contribute to a major burden of indirect effects of the pandemic, suggesting they should be monitored and mitigated urgently.

Study protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of levetiracetam and zonisamide versus standard treatments for epilepsy: a comparison of standard and new antiepileptic drugs (SANAD-II).

INTRODUCTION: Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are the mainstay of epilepsy treatment. Over the past 20 years, a number of new drugs have been approved for National Health Service (NHS) use on the basis of information from short-term trials that demonstrate efficacy. These trials do not provide information about the longer term outcomes, which inform treatment policy. This trial will assess the long-term clinical and cost-effectiveness of the newer treatment levetiracetam and zonisamide. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a phase IV, multicentre, open-label, randomised, controlled clinical trial comparing new and standard treatments for patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy. Arm A of the trial randomised 990 patients with focal epilepsy to standard AED lamotrigine or new AED levetiracetam or zonisamide. Arm B randomised 520 patients with generalised epilepsy to standard AED sodium valproate or new AED levetiracetam. Patients are recruited from UK NHS outpatient epilepsy, general neurology and paediatric clinics. Included patients are aged 5 years or older with two or more spontaneous seizures requiring AED monotherapy, who are not previously treated with AEDs. Patients are followed up for a minimum of 2 years. The primary outcome is time to 12-month remission from seizures. Secondary outcomes include time to treatment failure (including due to inadequate seizure control or unacceptable adverse reactions); time to first seizure; time to 24-month remission; adverse reactions and quality of life. All primary analyses will be on an intention to treat basis. Separate analyses will be undertaken for each arm. Health economic analysis will be conducted from the perspective of the NHS to assess the cost-effectiveness of each AED. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This trial has been approved by the North West-Liverpool East REC (Ref. 12/NW/0361). The trial team will disseminate the results through scientific meetings, peer-reviewed publications and patient and public involvement. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: EudraCT 2012-001884-64; ISRCTN30294119.

The longitudinal NIHR ARC North West Coast Household Health Survey: exploring health inequalities in disadvantaged communities.

BACKGROUND: The Household Health Survey (HHS) was developed to understand the socioeconomic determinants of mental and physical health, and health inequalities in health and social care. This paper aims to provide a detailed rationale of the development and implementation of the survey and explore socio-economic variations in physical and mental health and health care. METHODS: This comprehensive longitudinal public health survey was designed and piloted in a disadvantaged area of England, comprising questions on housing, physical health, mental health, lifestyle, social issues, environment, work, and finances. After piloting, the HHS was implemented across 28 neighbourhoods - 10 disadvantaged neighbourhoods for learning (NfLs), 10 disadvantaged comparator sites, and eight relatively advantaged areas, in 2015 and 2018. Participants were recruited via random sampling of households in pre-selected neighbourhoods based on their areas of deprivation. RESULTS: 7731 residents participated in Wave 1 (N = 4319) and 2 (n = 3412) of the survey, with 871 residents having participated in both. Mental health, physical health, employment, and housing quality were poorer in disadvantaged neighbourhoods than in relatively advantaged areas. CONCLUSIONS: This survey provides important insights into socio-economic variations in physical and mental health, with findings having implications for improved care provision to enable residents from any geographical or socio-economic background to access suitable care.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor-related colitis assessment and prognosis: can IBD scoring point the way?

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) improve survival but cause immune-related adverse events (irAE). We sought to determine if CTCAE classification, IBD biomarkers/endoscopic/histological scores correlate with irAE colitis outcomes. METHODS: A dual-centre retrospective study was performed on patients receiving ICI for melanoma, NSCLC or urothelial cancer from 2012 to 2018. Demographics, clinical data, endoscopies (reanalysed using Mayo/Ulcerative Colitis Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS) scores), histology (scored with Nancy Index) and treatment outcomes were analysed. RESULTS: In all, 1074 patients were analysed. Twelve percent (134) developed irAE colitis. Median patient age was 66, 59% were male. CTCAE diarrhoea grade does not correlate with steroid/ infliximab use. G3/4 colitis patients are more likely to need infliximab (p < 0.0001) but colitis grade does not correlate with steroid duration. CRP, albumin and haemoglobin do not correlate with severity. The UCEIS (p = 0.008) and Mayo (p = 0.016) scores correlate with severity/infliximab requirement. Patients with higher Nancy indices (3/4) are more likely to require infliximab (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: CTCAE assessment does not accurately reflect colitis severity and our data do not support its use in isolation, as this may negatively impact timely management. Our data support utilising endoscopic scoring for patients with >grade 1 CTCAE disease, and demonstrate the potential prognostic utility of objective histologic scoring.

SJS/TEN 2019: From science to translation.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) are potentially life-threatening, immune-mediated adverse reactions characterized by widespread erythema, epidermal necrosis, and detachment of skin and mucosa. Efforts to grow and develop functional international collaborations and a multidisciplinary interactive network focusing on SJS/TEN as an uncommon but high burden disease will be necessary to improve efforts in prevention, early diagnosis and improved acute and long-term management. SJS/TEN 2019: From Science to Translation was a 1.5-day scientific program held April 26-27, 2019, in Vancouver, Canada. The meeting successfully engaged clinicians, researchers, and patients and conducted many productive discussions on research and patient care needs.

Correction to: Adverse drug reaction causality assessment tools for drug-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis: room for improvement.

The correct name of the 9th Author is David J. Margolis. The original article was corrected.

Adverse drug reaction causality assessment tools for drug-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis: room for improvement.

PURPOSE: Establishment of causality between drug exposure and adverse drug reactions (ADR) is challenging even for serious ADRs such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN). Several causality assessment tools (CAT) exist, but the reliability and validity of such tools is variable. The objective of this study was to compare the reliability and validity of existing ADR CATs on SJS/TEN cases. METHODS: Seven investigators completed three CAT (ALDEN, Naranjo, Liverpool) for 10 SJS/TEN cases. Each CAT categorized the causality of 30 potential drugs as definite/very probable, probable, possible, or doubtful/unlikely. An additional reviewer provided expert opinion by designating the implicated drug(s) for each case. A Kappa score was generated to compare CAT responses both by method (reliability of all 7 reviewers, by CATs) and by reviewer (reliability of the 3 CAT, by reviewer). A c statistic was calculated to assess validity. RESULTS: Inter-rater reliability by CAT was poor to fair: ALDEN 0.22, Naranjo 0.11, and Liverpool 0.12. Reliability was highest when causality classification was definite/very probable (0.16-0.41). Similarly, intra-rater reliability by reviewer was poor. When comparing the validity of the overall CAT to expert reviewer, area under the curve was highest for ALDEN (c statistic 0.65) as compared to Liverpool (0.55) or Naranjo (0.54). CONCLUSION: Available CAT have poor reliability and validity for drug-induced SJS/TEN. Due to the importance of determining ADR causality for research, industry, and regulatory purposes, development of an enhanced tool that can incorporate data from immunological testing and pharmacogenetic results may strengthen CAT usefulness and applicability for drug-induced SJS/TEN.

What are the social predictors of accident and emergency attendance in disadvantaged neighbourhoods? Results from a cross-sectional household health survey in the north west of England.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the most important determinants of accident and emergency (A&E) attendance in disadvantaged areas. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3510 residents from 20 disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the North West Coast area in England completed a comprehensive public health survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants were asked to complete general background information, as well as information about their physical health, mental health, lifestyle, social issues, housing and environment, work and finances, and healthcare service usage. Only one resident per household could take part in the survey. Poisson regression analysis was employed to assess the predictors of A&E attendance frequency in the previous 12 months. RESULTS: 31.6% of the sample reported having attended A&E in the previous 12 months, ranging from 1 to 95 visits. Controlling for demographic and health factors, not being in employment and living in poor quality housing increased the likelihood of attending an A&E service. Service access was also found to be predictive of A&E attendance insofar as there were an additional 18 fewer A&E attendances per 100 population for each kilometre closer a person lived to a general practitioner (GP) practice, and 3 fewer attendances per 100 population for each kilometre further a person lived from an A&E department. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the first surveys to explore a comprehensive set of socio-economic factors as well as proximity to both GP and A&E services as predictors of A&E attendance in disadvantaged areas. Findings from this study suggest the need to address both socioeconomic issues, such as employment and housing quality, as well as structural issues, such as public transport and access to primary care, to reduce the current burden on A&E departments.

Drug repurposing: progress, challenges and recommendations.

Given the high attrition rates, substantial costs and slow pace of new drug discovery and development, repurposing of 'old' drugs to treat both common and rare diseases is increasingly becoming an attractive proposition because it involves the use of de-risked compounds, with potentially lower overall development costs and shorter development timelines. Various data-driven and experimental approaches have been suggested for the identification of repurposable drug candidates; however, there are also major technological and regulatory challenges that need to be addressed. In this Review, we present approaches used for drug repurposing (also known as drug repositioning), discuss the challenges faced by the repurposing community and recommend innovative ways by which these challenges could be addressed to help realize the full potential of drug repurposing.

Cost-Effectiveness of Panel Tests for Multiple Pharmacogenes Associated With Adverse Drug Reactions: An Evaluation Framework.

The cost-effectiveness of testing for multiple genes implicated in adverse drug reactions requires the simultaneous assessment of all actionable information, including future prescribing decisions based on incidental findings. We developed methodology for determining the value of pharmacogenetic panel tests, illustrated with a multigene panel, including HLA-A*31:01, HLA-B*15:02, HLA-B*57:01, HLA-B*58:01, HLA-B (158T), and HLA-DQB1 (126Q). If the findings for all alleles are acted upon, regardless of their individual cost-effectiveness, the HLA panel resulted in cost savings of £378 (US $491), and a quality-adjusted life year gain of 0.0069. Based on a stratified analysis and compared with no testing, initial use of the panel was cost-effective in patients eligible for abacavir (HLA-B*57:01), carbamazepine (HLA-A*31:01), and clozapine (HLA-B (158T) and HLA-DQB1 (126Q)), but not for carbamazepine (HLA-B*15:02) or allopurinol (HLA-B*58:01). The methods presented allow for the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of multiple-gene panels.

Application of in Vitro T Cell Assay Using Human Leukocyte Antigen-Typed Healthy Donors for the Assessment of Drug Immunogenicity.

It is unclear whether priming of naïve T cells to drugs is detectable in healthy human donors expressing different human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Thus, we examined T cell priming with drugs associated with HLA risk alleles and control compounds in 14 HLA-typed donors. Nitroso sulfamethoxazole and piperacillin activated T cells from all donors, whereas responses to carbamazepine and oxypurinol were only seen in donors expressing HLA-B*15:02 and HLA-B*58:01, respectively. Weak flucloxacillin-specific T cell responses were detected in donors expressing HLA-B*57:01 and HLA-B*58:01. These data show that the priming of T cells with certain drugs is skewed toward donors expressing specific HLA alleles.

An assessment of the impact of pharmacogenomics on health disparities: a systematic literature review.

This review assessed evidence of disparities in benefits of pharmacogenomics related to 'model performance' in subgroups of patients and studies which reported impact on health inequalities. 'Model performance' refers to the ability of algorithms including clinical, environmental and genetic information to guide treatment. A total of 4978 abstracts were screened by one reviewer and 30% (1494) were double screened by a second independent reviewer, after which data extraction was performed. Additional forward and backward citation searching of reference lists was conducted. Investigators independently double rated study quality and applicability of included studies. Only five individual studies were identified which met our inclusion criteria, but were contradictory in their conclusions. While three studies of genotype-guided dosing of warfarin reported that ethnic disparities in healthcare may widen, two other studies (one reporting on warfarin and reporting on clopidogrel) suggested that disparities in healthcare may reduce. There is a paucity of studies which evaluates the impact of pharmacogenomics on health disparities. Further work is required not only to evaluate health disparities between ethnic groups and countries but also within ethnic groups in the same country and solutions need to be identified to overcome these disparities.

Cost effectiveness analysis of HLA-B*58:01 genotyping prior to initiation of allopurinol for gout.

Objective: To determine whether prospective testing for HLA-B*58:01, as a strategy to prevent serious adverse reactions to allopurinol in patients with gout, is cost-effective from the perspective of the National Health Service in the UK. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis for the association of HLA-B*58:01 with cutaneous and hypersensitivity adverse drug reactions informed a decision analytic and Markov model to estimate lifetime costs and outcomes associated with testing vs standard care (with febuxostat prescribed for patients who test positive). Scenario analyses assessed alternative treatment assumptions and patient populations. Results: The number of patients needed to test to prevent one case of adverse drug reaction was 11 286 (95% central range (CR): 2573, 53 594). Cost and quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gains were small, £103 (95% CR: £98, £106) and 0.0023 (95% CR: -0.0006, 0.0055), respectively, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of £44 954 per QALY gained. The probability of testing being cost-effective at a threshold of £30 000 per QALY was 0.25. Reduced costs of testing or febuxostat resulted in an ICER below £30 000 per QALY gained. The ICER for patients with chronic renal insufficiency was £38 478 per QALY gained. Conclusion: Routine testing for HLA-B*58:01 in order to reduce the incidence of adverse drug reactions in patients being prescribed allopurinol for gout is unlikely to be cost-effective in the UK; however testing is expected to become cost-effective with reductions in the cost of genotyping, and with the future availability of cheaper, generic febuxostat.