Trastuzumab-emtansine induced pleural and pericardial effusions.

INTRODUCTION: Trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) is an antibody-drug conjugate which combine trastuzumab (T), a monoclonal antibody targeting the human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2), and a cytotoxic molecule derived from maytansine (DM1). CASE REPORT: We report the first case of T-DM1-associated pleural and pericardial effusions three weeks after the second course of T-DM1 in a patient with breast cancer. Drug-induced pleural and pericardial effusions was implicated in the absence of other etiologies. The Naranjo Scale indicated a probable drug-induced adverse reaction.Management & outcome: The patient fully recovered after thoracentesis and discontinuation of T-DM1. The patient has reported no side effect after the sixth course of trastuzumab. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first case in the literature of bilateral pleural and pericardial effusions in a patient treated with T-DM1. The successful initiation of treatment with trastuzumab following withdrawal of T-DM1 suggests that emtansine played a role in the development of bilateral pleural and pericardial effusions. We hypothesize that the patient's condition was a result of a local inflammatory reaction to emtansine by direct toxicity.

Safety of ninety-minute daratumumab infusion.

PURPOSE: Daratumumab is the first anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody of the class approved for recurrent and refractory multiple myeloma. Grade 3 and 4 Infusion-Related Reactions (IRRs) are frequent during the first and second infusions. Due to the risks associated with severe IRRs, daratumumab is systematically administered over a period of 3.5 hours.The main objective of this study was to evaluate the safety of a 90-minute daratumumab infusion from the third infusion. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients who had received two or more doses of daratumumab in monotherapy or in combination with standard infusion rates were included. We excluded patients enrolled in clinical trials. For the rapid infusion protocol, 20% of the dose was administered over 30 minutes and the remaining 80% over 60 minutes. RESULTS: From April 1 to May 31, 2019, 25 patients received 53 90-minute infusions of daratumumab. Premedication included corticosteroids, antipyretics, antihistamines, and if necessary a leukotriene receptor antagonist. No grade 3 or grade 4 IRRs were observed. CONCLUSION: From the third infusion, we found that a rapid administration of daratumumab (90 vs 210 minutes) was well tolerated and safe. It would be interesting to test this regimen from the second infusion.

Comparative study of the adverse event profile of hydroxychloroquine before and during the Sars-CoV2 pandemic.

AIMS: At the beginning of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, there were no clinically-tested medications for the effective treatment of coronavirus disease. In this context, on 5 March 2020, the French Public Health Council issued several recommendations for the therapeutic management of this new disease, including the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). An unexpected cardiovascular safety signal was quickly identified as being more frequent than expected thanks to the reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) submitted to French regional pharmacovigilance centres (RPVC). The objective of this study was to compare all ADRs reported with HCQ used in its usual indication, collected before the pandemic period (1985 to 31 December, 2019) with those reported with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) indication (1 January to 21 July, 2020). METHODS: For this purpose, reports were extracted from the French pharmacovigilance database and analysed for these two periods. RESULTS: Our study showed a different safety profile in COVID-19 patients with more cardiac disorders (57% of ADRs versus 5% before the pandemic period), especially QT interval prolongation, resulting from an interaction with azithromycin in more than 20% of cases. Hepatobiliary disorders were also significantly more frequent. CONCLUSIONS: These observations could be associated with the effect of the virus itself on the various organs, the profile of the patients treated, and concomitant drug treatments.