ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), dapagliflozin improves glycemic control and has a safety profile typically related to its mechanism of action. Hypersensitivity adverse events (AEs) have been reported in some patients with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, including a recent report of dermatological AEs in Japan. METHODS: We investigated the frequency and characteristics of hypersensitivity AEs, including potentially hypersensitivity-related skin AEs, across 21 phase IIb/III trials of dapagliflozin (N = 5936) versus active or placebo comparators (N = 3403), including the subpopulation of Asian patients (N = 1563). RESULTS: Overall, AEs and serious AEs (SAEs) of hypersensitivity were infrequent and were reported in a similar proportion of patients with dapagliflozin versus active or placebo comparators (AEs: 4.5 vs. 4.3 %; SAEs: 0.2 vs. 0.1 %, respectively). The most common events affected the skin or subcutaneous tissue: rash (dapagliflozin: 1.1 %, comparator: 1.1 %), eczema (0.6, 0.8 %), dermatitis (0.5, 0.4 %), and urticaria (0.5, 0.2 %). Few patients discontinued as a result of hypersensitivity AEs (≤0.2 %). In patients of Asian descent, a lower frequency of hypersensitivity AEs was observed with dapagliflozin versus comparators (2.0 vs. 4.5 %). In the subset of placebo-controlled trials, hypersensitivity AEs were slightly more frequent with dapagliflozin than with placebo across the overall population (4.7 vs. 3.8 %), and less frequent with dapagliflozin in Asian patients (1.5 vs. 5.0 %). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this post hoc analysis indicate that dapagliflozin does not lead to an increased risk of serious hypersensitivity reactions or potentially hypersensitivity-related skin events among patients with T2DM, including Asian patients. Long-term outcome studies and postmarketing surveillance will provide further information on hypersensitivity reactions with SGLT2 inhibitors. CLINICALTRIALS. GOV IDENTIFIERS: NCT01042977, NCT01031680, NCT00855166, NCT00984867, NCT01294423, NCT00673231, NCT00972244, NCT00680745, NCT00660907, NCT01095653, NCT00831779, NCT00976495, NCT00859898, NCT00736879, NCT00683878, NCT00663260, NCT00643851, NCT00528879, NCT00528372, NCT00357370, NCT00263276.
