scholarly journals Influenza H1N1 (swine flu) vaccination: a safety surveillance feasibility study using self‐reporting of serious adverse events and pregnancy outcomes

2012 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 801-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isla S. Mackenzie ◽  
Thomas M. MacDonald ◽  
Saad Shakir ◽  
Moira Dryburgh ◽  
Brian J. Mantay ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-192
Author(s):  
Ricardo Palacios

The creator of several vaccines given to children around the world everyday, Maurice Hilleman, advised that at the same time that new vaccines would emerge in the 21st century due to technological advances, unfounded criticisms of vaccines would extended beyond spurious belief systems to actual anti-vaccine movements. He pointed out that these movements are aimed at disruption of vaccine programmes through use of public media including the press, television and the Internet in his response to the spurious association between autism and Crohn's disease with one of his main creations, MMR vaccine (1). Andrew Wakefield, author of an unsound scientific paper in 1998 proposing such association, was motivated by an undue agreement to support a lawsuit (2). Nevertheless, Wakefield remains as an outstanding voice in the anti-vaccine movement (3). Why the once feared diseases disappeared from collective memory? On the other hand, adverse events following immunization that we used to bear as a fair risk for the expected benefit are not accepted anymore? Why we have forgotten the benefits, but not forgiven the risks? How could we define new strategies to face the challenges of immunization programmes? The 1976 swine flu immunization programme in United States was a landmark on the questioning of risk-benefit ratio for vaccines. The concern on a new pandemic flu after triggered a large mass vaccination campaign. Pandemic flu cases did not appear, but serious adverse events did raise questions on public opinion (4). This contrasted with most of the vaccines where decreasing incidence of a preventable diseases compared with safety concerns seems to be acceptable for the society. On the other hand, efficacious vaccines, like whole-cell pertussis vaccine (wP), have been also on the spot due to relevant adverse events after immunization...


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lene Kristine Juvet ◽  
Anna Hayman Robertson ◽  
Ida Laake ◽  
Siri Mjaaland ◽  
Lill Trogstad

BackgroundIn 2009, a new influenza A H1N1 virus emerged causing a global pandemic. A range of monovalent influenza A H1N1pdm09 vaccines with or without adjuvants were developed. After the mass vaccination campaigns safety concerns related to H1N1pdm09 vaccines were reported. More than a decade later, reported AEFIs are still under scrutiny. We performed a systematic review aiming to synthesize the evidence on the safety of the H1N1pdm09 vaccines on reported outcomes from existing systematic reviews.MethodsFour electronic databases, PubMed, EMBASE, Epistimonikos and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched for articles on H1N1pdm09 vaccination published from 2009 to January 2021. Systematic reviews assessing short- or long-term adverse events after H1N1pdm09 vaccination were considered for inclusion. Data was extracted from all selected reviews. Outcomes were grouped and results from each included review were presented narratively and in tables.Results16 systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria. Reported outcomes were short-term events (3 reviews), fetal/pregnancy outcomes (8 reviews), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (4 reviews), narcolepsy (2 reviews) demyelinating diseases (1 review based on one study only) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (1 review). Short-term serious adverse events were rare, 3 cases amongst 16725 subjects in 18 randomized controlled trials (0.018%). No deaths were reported. The risks of local events were generally higher for adjuvanted vaccines as compared to unadjuvanted vaccines. Maternal H1N1pdm09 vaccination in any trimester was not associated with an increase in preterm birth, small for gestational age, congenital malformations or fetal death. For GBS, results were conflicting. The main systematic review on narcolepsy found a 5-14-fold increased risk in children, and a 2-7- fold increased risk in adults after vaccination with Pandemrix. The attributable risk of narcolepsy one year after vaccination was 1 case per 18 400 vaccine doses in children/adolescents, and 1 case per 181 000 vaccine doses in adults.ConclusionAdjuvanted vaccines had more local but not serious adverse events compared to unadjuvanted vaccines. Vaccination with Pandemrix was strongly associated with narcolepsy, particularly in children. No increased risks of pregnancy outcomes were seen after pandemic vaccination. The findings on GBS were inconclusive.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e13506-e13506
Author(s):  
Garni Barkhoudarian

e13506 Background: The Nativis Voyager® ulRFE™ system, a non-invasive investigational device, was studied in a first-in-human feasibility study to assess if it is a safe and feasible treatment for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The anti-mitotic therapy delivers ultra-low radio frequency energy ( ulRFE) profiles produced by changes in molecular electrostatic surface potential to the brain. The interim results of the first stage of a 2-stage study are presented here. Methods: In this prospective, multi-center trial, patients with GBM, following recurrence after receiving standard-of-care chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy were considered for the study. Patients were treated with Voyager alone or with Voyager plus concurrent chemotherapy or Avastin at the discretion of the investigator. Safety was assessed by incidence of any adverse events associated with the investigational therapy. Tumor progression at 8 weeks (2 cycles) was assessed by radiological response by local site. Patients were followed at least every 8 weeks during treatment and every 4 months thereafter. Results: Fourteen patients were enrolled and treated at four clinical sites across the United States. Eleven subjects were followed per protocol. Three subjects withdrew consent prior to the first radiological assessment (day 28) for reasons not associated with the study or investigational therapy, and were not included in the analysis. The local sites reported a partial response in the first 2 months of treatment in 2 of the 11 subjects. These subjects were Avastin-naïve. Two were reported to be progression free after 6 cycles (24 weeks) of treatment. No serious adverse events associated with the investigational therapy were reported. Conclusions: The Nativis Voyager appears to be feasible and safe for the treatment of recurrent GBM. Given that therapy is delivered non-invasively, and no serious adverse events attributed to the investigational therapy were reported, further prospective study in an expanded study of the investigational device is warranted. Clinical trial information: NCT02296580.


2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumi Kawai ◽  
Tsuyoshi Tsuchiya ◽  
Shigeru Aoki

Background: This is the first retrospective report of pregnancy outcomes after exposure to adalimumab treatment in Japan. Methods: Using the AbbVie safety database, we analyzed pregnancy outcome data from patients who received adalimumab treatment from April 16, 2008, to May 15, 2017. Results: Data were extracted retrospectively for 74 pregnancies in 73 patients. More than half of the patients included in the study received adalimumab for the treatment of Crohn’s disease (37.8%) or ulcerative colitis (20.3%), while 9.5% received adalimumab for rheumatoid arthritis. Of the 53 pregnancies with available outcome data, 45 newborns (45/53 [84.9%]) were delivered. Of these births, 30 were full-term, 2 were preterm, and 13 were unknown. Apgar scores were available for 11 of the 16 newborns whose mothers were exposed to adalimumab in the third trimester; all scores were within the normal range. Low birth weight was observed in 5 infants out of the 30 full-term deliveries. There were also 5 miscarriages (5/53 [9.4%]), 2 induced abortions (2/53 [3.8%]), and 1 stillbirth (1/53 [1.9%]). Eight maternal adverse events were observed in 5 pregnancies; no serious adverse events occurred. Conclusion: Although safety concerns were inconclusive, these data do not report additional risk to pregnancy outcomes with adalimumab exposure.


Author(s):  
Xiang-Lin Tan ◽  
David M. Kern ◽  
M. Soledad Cepeda

Abstract Background An important component of a systematic strategy for safety surveillance is prospective identification of anticipated serious adverse events (SAEs). Developing a structured approach to identify anticipated events and estimating their incidence can help align the safety strategy and the safety surveillance efforts. Methods We developed a novel approach to identify anticipated events for a hypothetical randomized, double-blind, controlled trial in subjects with bipolar disorder using the adverse events reported in the placebo arm of trials from the ClinicalTrials.gov database. We searched the ClinicalTrials.gov database for all trials on bipolar depression with similar inclusion/exclusion criteria and study duration as our hypothetical study. The frequencies of anticipated events in placebo arms were abstracted from each trial and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using the Clopper–Pearson method. Meta-analysis with a random effects model was performed to obtain a summary estimate and 95% CI for the events identified in more than one trial. Results A total of 129 clinical trials were initially identified, and 18 were ultimately selected as they met all the selection criteria. There were 69 unique anticipated SAEs identified, and 13 out of 69 were reported in at least 2 clinical trials. The top 5 anticipated SAEs for our study were: (1) hospitalization, psychiatric symptom (3.57%); (2) suicidal behavior, overdose (3.57%), (3) cholecystitis (2.86%); (4) fall (2.86%); (5) road traffic accident, injury (2.86%). Conclusion We successfully identified the anticipated events from registered trials that included a population similar to our trial. This method for identifying anticipated events could be applied to other disease areas.


2013 ◽  
Vol 154 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-92
Author(s):  
Mariann Harangi ◽  
Noémi Zsíros ◽  
Lilla Juhász ◽  
György Paragh

Statin therapy is considered to be safe and rarely associated with serious adverse events. However, a significant proportion of patients on statin therapy show some degree of intolerance which can lead to decreased adherence to statin therapy. The authors summarize the symptoms, signs and frequencies of the most common statin-induced adverse effects and their most important risk factors including some single nucleotide polymorphisms and gene mutations. Also, they review the available approaches to detect and manage the statin-intolerant patients. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 83–92.


2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 2000-2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soroush Niketeghad ◽  
Abirami Muralidharan ◽  
Uday Patel ◽  
Jessy D. Dorn ◽  
Laura Bonelli ◽  
...  

Stimulation of primary visual cortices has the potential to restore some degree of vision to blind individuals. Developing safe and reliable visual cortical prostheses requires assessment of the long-term stability, feasibility, and safety of generating stimulation-evoked perceptions.A NeuroPace responsive neurostimulation system was implanted in a blind individual with an 8-year history of bare light perception, and stimulation-evoked phosphenes were evaluated over 19 months (41 test sessions). Electrical stimulation was delivered via two four-contact subdural electrode strips implanted over the right medial occipital cortex. Current and charge thresholds for eliciting visual perception (phosphenes) were measured, as were the shape, size, location, and intensity of the phosphenes. Adverse events were also assessed.Stimulation of all contacts resulted in phosphene perception. Phosphenes appeared completely or partially in the left hemifield. Stimulation of the electrodes below the calcarine sulcus elicited phosphenes in the superior hemifield and vice versa. Changing the stimulation parameters of frequency, pulse width, and burst duration affected current thresholds for eliciting phosphenes, and increasing the amplitude or frequency of stimulation resulted in brighter perceptions. While stimulation thresholds decreased between an average of 5% and 12% after 19 months, spatial mapping of phosphenes remained consistent over time. Although no serious adverse events were observed, the subject experienced mild headaches and dizziness in three instances, symptoms that did not persist for more than a few hours and for which no clinical intervention was required.Using an off-the-shelf neurostimulator, the authors were able to reliably generate phosphenes in different areas of the visual field over 19 months with no serious adverse events, providing preliminary proof of feasibility and safety to proceed with visual epicortical prosthetic clinical trials. Moreover, they systematically explored the relationship between stimulation parameters and phosphene thresholds and discovered the direct relation of perception thresholds based on primary visual cortex (V1) neuronal population excitation thresholds.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
Raafat Abdel-Malek ◽  
Kyrillus S. Shohdy ◽  
Noha Abbas ◽  
Mohamed Ismail ◽  
Emad Hamada ◽  
...  

Background: Several single chemotherapeutic agents have been evaluated as the second-line treatment of advanced urothelial carcinoma. Despite encouraging efficacy outcomes, toxicity has often led to dose modifications or discontinuation. We aimed to assess the safety of vinflunine in a particular population of advanced transitional cell carcinoma of urothelium (TCCU), that were exposed to the previous toxicity of chemotherapy. Methods: This is an open-label, prospective, single-center pilot study to evaluate the response rate and safety profile of vinflunine in patients with advanced TCCU. It was planned to enroll 25 evaluable patients. Eligible patients are those with progressive disease after first-line platinum-based regimen for advanced or metastatic disease. Results: The study was prematurely closed due to two sudden deaths that were judged by the review board as treatment-related. Only ten patients were evaluated and received at least one cycle of vinflunine. All but one were male and seven underwent radical surgery. Eight had a distant metastasis (mainly lung and/or liver). Disease control rate was 40%, four patients had a partial response with median duration of response of 3.5 months. The median overall survival was 3.2 months (95% CI:1.67- 4.73). There were three serious adverse events namely two sudden deaths and one grade 4 thrombocytopenia. Nine grade 3/4 adverse events occurred. The most common all-grade adverse events were fatigue (50%), constipation (40%) and vomiting (40%). Moreover, grade 3 fatigue occurred in 30% of patients. Only one patient, who achieved PR for 5 months, was fit to receive further cytotoxic chemotherapy. Conclusion: The activity of vinflunine in advanced urothelial carcinoma came at the expense of its safety. The use of vinflunine has to be limited to the selected group of patients. However, this is a single institute experience in a limited number of patients.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document