Warnings for Tosymra
Included as part of the "PRECAUTIONS" Section
Precautions for Tosymra
Myocardial Ischemia, Myocardial Infarction, And Prinzmetal's Angina
The use of TOSYMRA is contraindicated in patients with ischemic or vasospastic CAD. There have been rare reports of serious cardiac adverse reactions, including acute myocardial infarction, occurring within a few hours following administration of sumatriptan. Some of these reactions occurred in patients without known CAD. 5-HT1 agonists, including TOSYMRA, may cause coronary artery vasospasm (Prinzmetal's angina), even in patients without a history of CAD.
Perform a cardiovascular evaluation in triptan-naive patients who have multiple cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., increased age, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, obesity, strong family history of CAD) prior to receiving TOSYMRA. If there is evidence of CAD or coronary artery vasospasm, TOSYMRA is contraindicated. For patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors who have a negative cardiovascular evaluation, consider administering the first dose of TOSYMRA in a medically supervised setting and performing an electrocardiogram (ECG) immediately following administration of TOSYMRA. For such patients, consider periodic cardiovascular evaluation in intermittent long-term users of TOSYMRA.
Arrhythmias
Life-threatening disturbances of cardiac rhythm, including ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation leading to death, have been reported within a few hours following the administration of 5-HT1 agonists. Discontinue TOSYMRA if these disturbances occur.
TOSYMRA is contraindicated in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome or arrhythmias associated with other cardiac accessory conduction pathway disorders.
Chest, Throat, Neck, And/Or Jaw Pain/Tightness/Pressure
Sensations of tightness, pain, pressure, and heaviness in the precordium, throat, neck, and jaw commonly occur after treatment with sumatriptan injection and are usually non-cardiac in origin. However, perform a cardiac evaluation if these patients are at high cardiac risk. The use of TOSYMRA is contraindicated in patients shown to have CAD and those with Prinzmetal's variant angina.
Cerebrovascular Events
Cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and stroke have occurred in patients treated with 5- HT1 agonists, and some have resulted in fatalities. In a number of cases, it appears possible that the cerebrovascular events were primary, the 5-HT1 agonist having been administered in the incorrect belief that the symptoms experienced were a consequence of migraine when they were not. Also, patients with migraine may be at increased risk of certain cerebrovascular events (e.g., stroke, hemorrhage, TIA). Discontinue TOSYMRA if a cerebrovascular event occurs.
Before treating headaches in patients not previously diagnosed with migraine or in patients who present with atypical symptoms, exclude other potentially serious neurological conditions. TOSYMRA is contraindicated in patients with a history of stroke or TIA.
Other Vasospasm Reactions
TOSYMRA may cause non-coronary vasospastic reactions, such as peripheral vascular ischemia, gastrointestinal vascular ischemia and infarction (presenting with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea), splenic infarction, and Raynaud's syndrome. In patients who experience symptoms or signs suggestive of non-coronary vasospasm reaction following the use of any 5-HT1 agonist, rule out a vasospastic reaction before receiving additional TOSYMRA.
Reports of transient and permanent blindness and significant partial vision loss have been reported with the use of 5-HT1 agonists. Since visual disorders may be part of a migraine attack, a causal relationship between these events and the use of 5-HT1 agonists have not been clearly established.
Medication Overuse Headache
Overuse of acute migraine drugs (e.g., ergotamine, triptans, opioids, or combination of these drugs for 10 or more days per month) may lead to exacerbation of headache (medication overuse headache). Medication overuse headache may present as migraine-like daily headaches, or as a marked increase in frequency of migraine attacks. Detoxification of patients, including withdrawal of the overused drugs, and treatment of withdrawal symptoms (which often includes a transient worsening of headache) may be necessary.
Serotonin Syndrome
Serotonin syndrome may occur with TOSYMRA, particularly during co-administration with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), and MAO inhibitors [see DRUG INTERACTIONS]. Serotonin syndrome symptoms may include mental status changes (e.g., agitation, hallucinations, coma), autonomic instability (e.g., tachycardia, labile blood pressure, hyperthermia), neuromuscular aberrations (e.g., hyperreflexia, incoordination), and/or gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., nausea, vomiting, diarrhea). The onset of symptoms usually occurs within minutes to hours of receiving a new or a greater dose of a serotonergic medication. Discontinue TOSYMRA if serotonin syndrome is suspected.
Increase In Blood Pressure
Significant elevation in blood pressure, including hypertensive crisis with acute impairment of organ systems, has been reported on rare occasions in patients treated with 5-HT1 agonists, including patients without a history of hypertension. Monitor blood pressure in patients treated with TOSYMRA. TOSYMRA is contraindicated in patients with uncontrolled hypertension.
Hypersensitivity Reactions
Hypersensitivity reactions, including angioedema and anaphylaxis, have occurred in patients receiving sumatriptan. Such reactions can be life threatening or fatal. In general, anaphylactic reactions to drugs are more likely to occur in individuals with a history of sensitivity to multiple allergens. TOSYMRA is contraindicated in patients with a history of hypersensitivity reaction to sumatriptan.
Seizures
Seizures have been reported following administration of sumatriptan. Some have occurred in patients with either a history of seizures or concurrent conditions predisposing to seizures. There are also reports in patients where no such predisposing factors are apparent. TOSYMRA should be used with caution in patients with a history of epilepsy or conditions associated with a lowered seizure threshold.
Local Irritation
Local irritative symptoms were reported in approximately 46% of patients treated with TOSYMRA in an open-label trial which allowed repeated use of TOSYMRA over the course of 6 months. Of these, the most common local irritative symptoms were application site reaction (36%), dysgeusia (21%), and throat irritation (5%). Approximately 0.5% of the cases were reported as severe.
Patient Counseling Information
Advise the patient to read the FDA-approved patient labeling (PATIENT INFORMATION and Instructions for Use).
Risk of Myocardial Ischemia and/or Infarction, Prinzmetal's Angina, Other Vasospasm-Related Events, Arrhythmias, and Cerebrovascular Events
Inform patients that TOSYMRA may cause serious cardiovascular side effects such as myocardial infarction or stroke. Although serious cardiovascular events can occur without warning symptoms, patients should be alert for the signs and symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, significant rise in blood pressure, weakness, and slurring of speech and should ask for medical advice when observing any indicative sign or symptoms are observed. Apprise patients of the importance of this follow-up [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
Hypersensitivity Reactions
Inform patients that anaphylactic reactions have occurred in patients receiving sumatriptan. Such reactions can be life threatening or fatal. In general, anaphylactic reactions to drugs are more likely to occur in individuals with a history of sensitivity to multiple allergens [see CONTRAINDICATIONS and WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
Concomitant Use With Other Triptans Or Ergot Medications
Inform patients that use of TOSYMRA within 24 hours of another triptan or an ergot-type medication (including dihydroergotamine or methylsergide) is contraindicated [see CONTRAINDICATIONS, DRUG INTERACTIONS].
Serotonin Syndrome
Caution patients about the risk of serotonin syndrome with the use of TOSYMRA or other triptans, particularly during combined use with SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, and MAO inhibitors [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS, DRUG INTERACTIONS].
Medication Overuse Headache
Inform patients that use of acute migraine drugs for 10 or more days per month may lead to an exacerbation of headache and encourage patients to record headache frequency and drug use (e.g., by keeping a headache diary) [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
Pregnancy
Advise patients to notify their healthcare provider if they become pregnant during treatment or plan to become pregnant [see Use In Specific Populations].
Lactation
Advise patients to notify their healthcare provider if they are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed [see Use In Specific Populations].
Ability To Perform Complex Tasks
Treatment with TOSYMRA may cause somnolence and dizziness; instruct patients to evaluate their ability to perform complex tasks during migraine attacks and after administration of TOSYMRA.
Local Irritation
Inform patients that they may experience local irritation of their nose, mouth, and throat; and changes in taste [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
How To Use TOSYMRA
Provide patients instruction on the proper use of TOSYMRA. Caution patients to avoid spraying the contents of the device in their eyes.
Nonclinical Toxicology
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment Of Fertility
Carcinogenesis
In carcinogenicity studies in mouse and rat, sumatriptan was administered orally for 78 weeks and 104 weeks, respectively, at doses up to 160 mg/kg/day (the highest dose in rat was reduced from 360 mg/kg/day during Week 21). There was no evidence in either species of an increase in tumors related to sumatriptan administration.
Mutagenesis
Sumatriptan was negative in in vitro (bacterial reverse mutation [Ames], gene cell mutation in Chinese hamster V79/HGPRT, chromosomal aberration in human lymphocytes) and in vivo (rat micronucleus) assays.
Impairment Of Fertility
When sumatriptan (0, 5, 50, 500 mg/kg/day) was administered orally to male and female rats prior to and throughout the mating period, there was a treatment-related decrease in fertility secondary to a decrease in mating in animals treated with doses greater than 5 mg/kg/day. It is not clear whether this finding was due to an effect on males or females or both.
When sumatriptan was administered by subcutaneous injection to male and female rats prior to and throughout the mating period, there was no evidence of impaired fertility at doses up to 60 mg/kg/day.
Use In Specific Populations
Pregnancy
Risk Summary
Data from a prospective pregnancy exposure registry and epidemiological studies of pregnant women have not detected an increased frequency of birth defects or a consistent pattern of birth defects among women exposed to sumatriptan compared with the general population (see Data). In developmental toxicity studies in rats and rabbits, oral administration of sumatriptan to pregnant animals was associated with embryo lethality, fetal abnormalities, and pup mortality. When administered by the intravenous route to pregnant rabbits, sumatriptan was embryo lethal (see Data).
In the U.S. general population, the estimated background risk of major birth defects and of miscarriage in clinically recognized pregnancies is 2% to 4% and 15% to 20%, respectively. The reported rate of major birth defects among deliveries to women with migraine ranged from 2.2% to 2.9% and the reported rate of miscarriage was 17%, which were similar to rates reported in women without migraine.
Clinical Considerations
Disease-Associated Maternal and/or Embryo/Fetal Risk: Several studies have suggested that women with migraine may be at increased risk of preeclampsia during pregnancy.
Data
Human Data
The Sumatriptan/Naratriptan/Treximet (sumatriptan and naproxen sodium) Pregnancy Registry, a population-based international prospective study, collected data for sumatriptan from January 1996 to September 2012. The Registry documented outcomes of 626 infants and fetuses exposed to sumatriptan during pregnancy (528 with earliest exposure during the first trimester, 78 during the second trimester, 16 during the third trimester, and 4 unknown). The occurrence of major birth defects (excluding fetal deaths and induced abortions without reported defects and all spontaneous pregnancy losses) during firsttrimester exposure to sumatriptan was 4.2% (20/478 [95% CI: 2.6% to 6.5%]) and during any trimester of exposure was 4.2% (24/576 [95% CI: 2.7% to 6.2%]). The sample size in this study had 80% power to detect at least a 1.73- to 1.91-fold increase in the rate of major malformations. The number of exposed pregnancy outcomes accumulated during the registry was insufficient to support definitive conclusions about overall malformation risk or for making comparisons of the frequencies of specific birth defects. Of the 20 infants with reported birth defects after exposure to sumatriptan in the first trimester, 4 infants had ventricular septal defects, including one infant who was exposed to both sumatriptan and naratriptan, and 3 infants had pyloric stenosis. No other birth defect was reported for more than 2 infants in this group.
In a study using data from the Swedish Medical Birth Register, live births to women who reported using triptans or ergots during pregnancy were compared with those of women who did not. Of the 2,257 births with first-trimester exposure to sumatriptan, 107 infants were born with malformations (relative risk 0.99 [95% CI: 0.91 to 1.21]). A study using linked data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway to the Norwegian Prescription Database compared pregnancy outcomes in women who redeemed prescriptions for triptans during pregnancy, as well as a migraine disease comparison group who redeemed prescriptions for sumatriptan before pregnancy only, compared with a population control group. Of the 415 women who redeemed prescriptions for sumatriptan during the first trimester, 15 had infants with major congenital malformations (OR 1.16 [95% CI: 0.69 to 1.94]) while for the 364 women who redeemed prescriptions for sumatriptan before, but not during, pregnancy, 20 had infants with major congenital malformations (OR 1.83 [95% CI: 1.17 to 2.88]), each compared with the population comparison group. Additional smaller observational studies evaluating use of sumatriptan during pregnancy have not suggested an increased risk of teratogenicity.
Animal Data
Oral administration of sumatriptan to pregnant rats during the period of organogenesis resulted in an increased incidence of fetal blood vessel (cervicothoracic and umbilical) abnormalities. The highest noeffect dose for embryofetal developmental toxicity in rats was 60 mg/kg/day. Oral administration of sumatriptan to pregnant rabbits during the period of organogenesis resulted in increased incidences of embryo lethality and fetal cervicothoracic vascular and skeletal abnormalities. Intravenous administration of sumatriptan to pregnant rabbits during the period of organogenesis resulted in an increased incidence of embryo lethality. The highest oral and intravenous no-effect doses for developmental toxicity in rabbits were 15 and 0.75 mg/kg/day, respectively.
Oral administration of sumatriptan to rats prior to and throughout gestation resulted in embryofetal toxicity (decreased body weight, decreased ossification, increased incidence of skeletal abnormalities). The highest no-effect dose was 50 mg/kg/day. In offspring of pregnant rats treated orally with sumatriptan during organogenesis, there was a decrease in pup survival. The highest no-effect dose for this effect was 60 mg/kg/day. Oral treatment of pregnant rats with sumatriptan during the latter part of gestation and throughout lactation resulted in a decrease in pup survival. The highest no-effect dose for this finding was 100 mg/kg/day.
Lactation
Risk Summary
Sumatriptan is excreted in human milk following subcutaneous administration (see Data). There are no data on the effects of sumatriptan on the breastfed infant or the effects of sumatriptan on milk production.
The developmental and health benefits of breastfeeding should be considered along with the mother's clinical need for TOSYMRA and any potential adverse effects on the breastfed infant from sumatriptan or from the underlying maternal condition.
Clinical Considerations
Infant exposure to sumatriptan can be minimized by avoiding breastfeeding for 12 hours after treatment with TOSYMRA.
Data
Following subcutaneous administration of a 6 mg dose of sumatriptan injection in 5 lactating volunteers, sumatriptan was present in milk.
Pediatric Use
Safety and effectiveness of TOSYMRA in pediatric patients have not been established. TOSYMRA is not recommended for use in patients younger than 18 years of age.
Two controlled clinical trials evaluated sumatriptan nasal spray (5 mg to 20 mg) in 1,248 pediatric migraineurs 12 to 17 years of age who treated a single attack. The trials did not establish the efficacy of sumatriptan nasal spray compared with placebo in the treatment of migraine in pediatric patients. Adverse reactions observed in these clinical trials were similar in nature to those reported in clinical trials in adults.
Five controlled clinical trials (2 single-attack trials, 3 multiple-attack trials) evaluating oral sumatriptan (25 mg to 100 mg) in pediatric subjects 12 to 17 years of age enrolled a total of 701 pediatric migraineurs. These trials did not establish the efficacy of oral sumatriptan compared with placebo in the treatment of migraine in pediatric patients. Adverse reactions observed in these clinical trials were similar in nature to those reported in clinical trials in adults. The frequency of all adverse reactions in these patients appeared to be both dose- and age-dependent, with younger patients reporting reactions more commonly than older pediatric patients.
Post-marketing experience documents that serious adverse reactions have occurred in the pediatric population after use of subcutaneous, oral, and/or intranasal sumatriptan. These reports include reactions similar in nature to those reported rarely in adults, including stroke, visual loss, and death. A myocardial infarction has been reported in a 14-year-old male following the use of oral sumatriptan; clinical signs occurred within 1 day of drug administration. Clinical data to determine the frequency of serious adverse reactions in pediatric patients who might receive subcutaneous, oral, or intranasal sumatriptan are not presently available.
Geriatric Use
Clinical trials of sumatriptan did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger patients. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger subjects. In general, dose selection for an elderly patient should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal, or cardiac function and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy.
A cardiovascular evaluation is recommended for geriatric patients who have other cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, smoking, obesity, strong family history of CAD) prior to receiving TOSYMRA [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].