SOMAC CONTROL Gastro-resistant tablet Ref.[49865] Active ingredients: Pantoprazole

Patients should be instructed to consult a doctor if:

• They have unintentional weight loss, anaemia, gastrointestinal bleeding, dysphagia, persistent vomiting or vomiting with blood, since pantoprazole may alleviate symptoms and delay diagnosis of a severe condition. In these cases, malignancy should be excluded.
• They have had previous gastric ulcer or gastrointestinal surgery.
• They are on continuous symptomatic treatment of indigestion or heartburn for 4 or more weeks.
• They have jaundice, hepatic impairment, or liver disease.
• They have any other serious disease affecting general well-being.
• They are aged over 55 years with new or recently changed symptoms.

Patients with long-term recurrent symptoms of indigestion or heartburn should see their doctor at regular intervals. Especially, patients over 55 years taking any non-prescription indigestion or heartburn remedy on a daily basis should inform their pharmacist or doctor.

Patients should not take another proton pump inhibitor or H₂ antagonist concomitantly.

Patients should consult their doctor before taking this medicinal product if they are due to have an endoscopy or urea breath test.

Patients should be advised that the tablets are not intended to provide immediate relief. Patients may start to experience symptomatic relief after approximately one day of treatment with pantoprazole, but it might be necessary to take it for 7 days to achieve complete heartburn control. Patients should not take pantoprazole as a preventive medicinal product.

Gastrointestinal infections caused by bacteria

Decreased gastric acidity, due to any means – including proton pump inhibitors – increases gastric counts of bacteria normally present in the gastrointestinal tract. Treatment with acid-reducing medicinal products leads to a slightly increased risk of gastrointestinal infections such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, or Clostridium difficile.

Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE)

Proton pump inhibitors are associated with very infrequent cases of SCLE. If lesions occur, especially in sun-exposed areas of the skin, and if accompanied by arthralgia, the patient should seek medical help promptly and the health care professional should consider stopping SOMAC Control. SCLE after previous treatment with a proton pump inhibitor may increase the risk of SCLE with other proton pump inhibitors.

Interference with laboratory tests

Increased Chromogranin A (CgA) level may interfere with investigations for neuroendocrine tumours. To avoid this interference, SOMAC Control treatment should be stopped for at least 5 days before CgA measurements (see section 5.1). If CgA and gastrin levels have not returned to reference range after initial measurement, measurements should be repeated 14 days after cessation of proton pump inhibitor treatment.

The following additional risks are considered relevant for long-term use

This medicinal product is intended for short-term use (up to 4 weeks) only (Refer to section 4.2). Patients should be warned about additional risks with long-term use of the medicinal products and the need for prescription and regular surveillance should be emphasised.

Influence on vitamin B₁₂ absorption

Pantoprazole, as all acid-blocking medicines, may reduce the absorption of vitamin B₁₂ (cyanocobalamin) due to hypo- or achlorhydria. This should be considered in patients with reduced body stores or risk factors for reduced vitamin B12 absorption on long-term therapy or if respective clinical symptoms are observed.

Bone fracture

Proton pump inhibitors, especially if used in high doses and over long durations (>1 year), may modestly increase the risk of hip, wrist and spine fracture, predominantly in the elderly or in the presence of other recognised risk factors. Observational studies suggest that proton pump inhibitors may increase the overall risk of fracture by 10–40%. Some of this increase may be due to other risk factors. Patients at risk of osteoporosis should receive care according to current clinical guidelines and they should have an adequate intake of vitamin D and calcium.

Hypomagnesaemia

Severe hypomagnesaemia has been rarely reported in patients treated with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like pantoprazole for at least three months, and in most cases for a year. Serious manifestations of hypomagnesaemia such as fatigue, tetany, delirium, convulsions, dizziness, and ventricular arrhythmia can occur but they may begin insidiously and be overlooked. Hypomagnesaemia may lead to hypocalcaemia and/or hypokalaemia (see section 4.8). In most affected patients, hypomagnesaemia (and hypomagnesaemia associated hypocalcaemia and/or hypokalaemia) improved after magnesium replacement and discontinuation of the PPI.

For patients expected to be on prolonged treatment or who take PPIs with digoxin or medicinal products that may cause hypomagnesaemia (e.g. diuretics), health care professionals should consider measuring magnesium levels before starting PPI treatment and periodically during treatment.

Pantoprazole contains sodium

This medicine contains less than 1 mmol sodium (23 mg) per tablet, that is to say essentially ‘sodium-free’.

Medicinal products with pH-dependent absorption pharmacokinetics

SOMAC Control may reduce the absorption of active substances whose bioavailability is dependent on the gastric pH (e.g. ketoconazole).

HIV protease inhibitors

Co-administration of pantoprazole is contraindicated with HIV protease inhibitors for which absorption is dependent on acidic intragastric pH such as atazanavir, nelfinavir; due to significant reduction in their bioavailability (see section 4.3).

Coumarin anticoagulants (phenprocoumon or warfarin)

Although no interaction during concomitant administration of phenprocoumon or warfarin has been observed in clinical pharmacokinetic studies, a few isolated cases of changes in International Normalised Ratio (INR) have been reported during concomitant treatment in the post-marketing period. Therefore, in patients treated with coumarin anticoagulants (e.g. phenprocoumon or warfarin), monitoring of prothrombin time/INR is recommended after initiation, termination or during irregular use of pantoprazole.

Methotrexate

Concomitant use of high-dose methotrexate (e.g. 300 mg) and proton pump inhibitors has been reported to increase methotrexate levels in some patients. Therefore in settings where high-dose methotrexate is used, for example cancer and psoriasis, a temporary withdrawal of pantoprazole may need to be considered.

Other interactions studies

Pantoprazole is metabolised in the liver via the cytochrome P450 enzyme system. Interaction studies with carbamazepine, caffeine, diazepam, diclofenac, digoxin, ethanol, glibenclamide, metoprolol, naproxen, nifedipine, phenytoin, piroxicam, theophylline and an oral contraceptive containing levonorgestrel and ethinyl oestradiol did not reveal clinically significant interactions. However, an interaction of pantoprazole with other substances which are metabolised by the same enzyme system cannot be excluded.

There were no interactions with concomitantly administered antacids.

Pregnancy

There are no adequate data from the use of pantoprazole in pregnant women. Studies in animals have shown reproductive toxicity. Preclinical studies revealed no evidence of impaired fertility or teratogenic effects (see section 5.3). The potential risk for humans is unknown. Pantoprazole should not be used during pregnancy.

Breast-feeding

Pantoprazole/metabolites have been identified in human milk. The effect of pantoprazole on newborns/infants is unknown. SOMAC Control should not be used during breast-feeding.

Fertility

There was no evidence of impaired fertility following the administration of pantoprazole in animal studies (see section 5.3).

SOMAC Control has no or negligible influence on the ability to drive and use machines. However adverse reactions such as dizziness and visual disturbances may occur (see section 4.8). If affected, patients should not drive or use machines.

Summary of the safety profile

Approximately 5% of patients can be expected to experience adverse reactions.

Tabulated list of adverse reactions

The following adverse reactions have been reported with pantoprazole. Within the following table, adverse reactions are ranked under the MedDRA frequency classification: very common (≥1/10); common (≥1/100 to <1/10); uncommon (≥1/1,000 to <1/100); rare (≥1/10,000 to <1/1,000); very rare (<1/10,000), not known (cannot be estimated from the available data). Within each frequency grouping, adverse reactions are presented in order of decreasing seriousness.

Table 1. Adverse reactions with pantoprazole in clinical trials and post-marketing experience:

¹ Hypocalcaemia and/or hypokalaemia may be related to the occurrence of hypomagnesaemia (see section 4.4).

Reporting of suspected adverse reactions

Reporting suspected adverse reactions after authorisation of the medicinal product is important. It allows continued monitoring of the benefit/risk balance of the medicinal product. Healthcare professionals are asked to report any suspected adverse reactions via the national reporting system listed in Appendix V.

Not applicable.