SOVALDI Film-coated tablet Ref.[7098] Active ingredients: Sofosbuvir

General

Sovaldi is not recommended for administration as monotherapy and should be prescribed in combination with other medicinal products for the treatment of hepatitis C infection. If the other medicinal products used in combination with Sovaldi are permanently discontinued, Sovaldi should also be discontinued (see section 4.2). Consult the Summary of Product Characteristics for co-prescribed medicinal products before starting therapy with Sovaldi.

Severe bradycardia and heart block

Life-threatening cases of severe bradycardia and heart block have been observed when sofosbuvircontaining regimens are used in combination with amiodarone. Bradycardia has generally occurred within hours to days, but cases with a longer time to onset have been observed mostly up to 2 weeks after initiating HCV treatment.

Amiodarone should only be used in patients on Sovaldi when other alternative anti-arrhythmic treatments are not tolerated or are contraindicated.

Should concomitant use of amiodarone be considered necessary it is recommended that patients undergo cardiac monitoring in an in-patient setting for the first 48 hours of coadministration, after which outpatient or self-monitoring of the heart rate should occur on a daily basis through at least the first 2 weeks of treatment.

Due to the long half-life of amiodarone, cardiac monitoring as outlined above should also be carried out for patients who have discontinued amiodarone within the past few months and are to be initiated on Sovaldi.

All patients with concurrent or recent use of amiodarone should be warned of the symptoms of bradycardia and heart block and should be advised to seek medical advice urgently should they experience them.

HCV/HBV (hepatitis B virus) co-infection

Cases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation, some of them fatal, have been reported during or after treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents. HBV screening should be performed in all patients before initiation of treatment. HBV/HCV co-infected patients are at risk of HBV reactivation, and should therefore be monitored and managed according to current clinical guidelines.

Treatment-experienced patients with genotype 1, 4, 5 and 6 HCV infection

Sovaldi has not been studied in a Phase 3 study in treatment-experienced patients with genotype 1, 4, 5 and 6 HCV infection. Thus, the optimal treatment duration in this population has not been established (see also sections 4.2 and 5.1).

Consideration should be given to treating these patients, and potentially extending the duration of therapy with sofosbuvir, peginterferon alfa and ribavirin beyond 12 weeks and up to 24 weeks; especially for those subgroups who have one or more factors historically associated with lower response rates to interferon-based therapies (advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis, high baseline viral concentrations, black race, IL28B non CC genotype).

Treatment of patients with genotype 5 or 6 HCV infection

The clinical data to support the use of Sovaldi in patients with genotype 5 and 6 HCV infection is very limited (see section 5.1).

Interferon-free therapy for genotype 1, 4, 5 and 6 HCV infection

Interferon-free regimens for patients with genotype 1, 4, 5 and 6 HCV infection with Sovaldi have not been investigated in Phase 3 studies (see section 5.1). The optimal regimen and treatment duration have not been established. Such regimens should only be used for patients that are intolerant to or ineligible for interferon therapy, and are in urgent need of treatment.

Co-administration with other direct-acting antivirals against HCV

Sovaldi should only be co-administered with other direct-acting antiviral medicinal products if the benefit is considered to outweigh the risks based upon available data. There are no data to support the co-administration of Sovaldi and telaprevir or boceprevir. Such co-administration is not recommended (see also section 4.5).

Pregnancy and concomitant use with ribavirin

When Sovaldi is used in combination with ribavirin or peginterferon alfa/ribavirin, women of childbearing potential or their male partners must use an effective form of contraception during the treatment and for a period of time after the treatment as recommended in the Summary of Product Characteristics for ribavirin. Refer to the Summary of Product Characteristics for ribavirin for additional information.

Use with moderate P-gp inducers

Medicinal products that are moderate P-gp inducers in the intestine (e.g. modafinil, oxcarbazepine and rifapentine) may decrease sofosbuvir plasma concentration leading to reduced therapeutic effect of Sovaldi. Co-administration of such medicinal products is not recommended with Sovaldi (see section 4.5).

Use in diabetic patients

Diabetics may experience improved glucose control, potentially resulting in symptomatic hypoglycaemia, after initiating HCV direct-acting antiviral treatment. Glucose levels of diabetic patients initiating direct-acting antiviral therapy should be closely monitored, particularly within the first 3 months, and their diabetic medication modified when necessary. The physician in charge of the diabetic care of the patient should be informed when direct-acting antiviral therapy is initiated.

Renal impairment

Safety data are limited in patients with severe renal impairment (eGFR <30 mL/min/1.73 m²) and ESRD requiring haemodialysis. Sovaldi can be used in these patients with no dose adjustment when no other relevant treatment options are available (see sections 4.8, 5.1 and 5.2). When Sovaldi is used in combination with ribavirin or peginterferon alfa/ribavirin, refer also to the Summary of Product Characteristics for ribavirin for patients with creatinine clearance (CrCl) <50 mL/min (see also section 5.2).

Excipients

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

Sofosbuvir is a nucleotide prodrug. After oral administration of Sovaldi, sofosbuvir is rapidly absorbed and subject to extensive first-pass hepatic and intestinal metabolism. Intracellular hydrolytic prodrug cleavage catalysed by enzymes including carboxylesterase 1 and sequential phosphorylation steps catalysed by nucleotide kinases result in formation of the pharmacologically active uridine nucleoside analogue triphosphate. The predominant inactive circulating metabolite GS-331007 that accounts for greater than 90% of drug-related material systemic exposure is formed through pathways sequential and parallel to formation of active metabolite. The parent sofosbuvir accounts for approximately 4% of drug-related material systemic exposure (see section 5.2). In clinical pharmacology studies, both sofosbuvir and GS-331007 were monitored for purposes of pharmacokinetic analyses.

Sofosbuvir is a substrate of drug transporter P-gp and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) while GS-331007 is not.

Medicinal products that are strong P-gp inducers in the intestine (carbamazepine, phenobarbital, phenytoin, rifampicin and St. John’s wort) may significantly decrease sofosbuvir plasma concentration leading to reduced therapeutic effect of Sovaldi and thus are contraindicated with Sovaldi (see section 4.3). Medicinal products that are moderate P-gp inducers in the intestine (e.g. modafinil, oxcarbazepine and rifapentine) may decrease sofosbuvir plasma concentration leading to reduced therapeutic effect of Sovaldi. Co-administration with such medicinal products is not recommended with Sovaldi (see section 4.4). Co-administration of Sovaldi with medicinal products that inhibit P-gp and/or BCRP may increase sofosbuvir plasma concentration without increasing GS-331007 plasma concentration, thus Sovaldi may be co-administered with P-gp and/or BCRP inhibitors. Sofosbuvir and GS-331007 are not inhibitors of P-gp and BCRP and thus are not expected to increase exposures of medicinal products that are substrates of these transporters.

The intracellular metabolic activation pathway of sofosbuvir is mediated by generally low affinity and high capacity hydrolase and nucleotide phosphorylation pathways that are unlikely to be affected by concomitant medicinal products (see section 5.2).

Patients treated with vitamin K antagonists

As liver function may change during treatment with Sovaldi, a close monitoring of International Normalised Ratio (INR) values is recommended.

Impact of DAA therapy on drugs metabolized by the liver

The pharmacokinetics of drugs that are metabolized by the liver (e.g. immunosuppressive agents such as calcineurin inhibitors) may be impacted by changes in liver function during DAA therapy, related to clearance of HCV.

Other interactions

Drug interaction information for Sovaldi with potential concomitant medicinal products is summarised in Table 5 below (where 90% confidence interval (CI) of the geometric least-squares mean (GLSM) ratio were within “↔”, extended above “↑”, or extended below “↓” the predetermined equivalence boundaries). The table is not all-inclusive.

Table 5. Interactions between Sovaldi and other medicinal products:

NA = not available/not applicable
^a Mean ratio (90% CI) of co-administered drug pharmacokinetics with/without sofosbuvir and mean ratio of sofosbuvir and GS-331007 with/without co-administered drug. No effect = 1.00
^b All interaction studies conducted in healthy volunteers
^c Comparison based on historical control
^d Administered as Atripla
^e Bioequivalence boundary 80%-125%
^f Equivalence boundary 70%-143%

Women of childbearing potential/contraception in males and females

When Sovaldi is used in combination with ribavirin or peginterferon alfa/ribavirin, extreme care must be taken to avoid pregnancy in female patients and in female partners of male patients. Significant teratogenic and/or embryocidal effects have been demonstrated in all animal species exposed to ribavirin (see section 4.4). Women of childbearing potential or their male partners must use an effective form of contraception during treatment and for a period of time after the treatment has concluded as recommended in the Summary of Product Characteristics for ribavirin. Refer to the Summary of Product Characteristics for ribavirin for additional information.

Pregnancy

There are no or limited amount of data (less than 300 pregnancy outcomes) from the use of sofosbuvir in pregnant women.

Animal studies do not indicate direct or indirect harmful effects with respect to reproductive toxicity. No effects on foetal development have been observed in rats and rabbits at the highest doses tested. However, it has not been possible to fully estimate exposure margins achieved for sofosbuvir in the rat relative to the exposure in humans at the recommended clinical dose (see section 5.3).

As a precautionary measure, it is preferable to avoid the use of Sovaldi during pregnancy.

However, if ribavirin is co-administered with sofosbuvir, the contraindications regarding use of ribavirin during pregnancy apply (see also the Summary of Product Characteristics for ribavirin).

Breast-feeding

It is unknown whether sofosbuvir and its metabolites are excreted in human milk.

Available pharmacokinetic data in animals have shown excretion of metabolites in milk (for details see section 5.3).

A risk to newborns/infants cannot be excluded. Therefore, Sovaldi should not be used during breast-feeding.

Fertility

No human data on the effect of Sovaldi on fertility are available. Animal studies do not indicate harmful effects on fertility.

Sovaldi has moderate influence on the ability to drive and use machines. Patients should be informed that fatigue and disturbance in attention, dizziness and blurred vision have been reported during treatment with sofosbuvir in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin (see section 4.8).

Summary of the safety profile in adults

Assessment of adverse reactions is based on pooled data from five Phase 3 clinical studies (both controlled and uncontrolled).

Sovaldi has been studied in combination with ribavirin, with or without peginterferon alfa. In this context, no adverse drug reactions specific to sofosbuvir have been identified. The most common adverse drug reactions occurring in patients receiving sofosbuvir and ribavirin or sofosbuvir, ribavirin and peginterferon alfa were fatigue, headache, nausea and insomnia.

Tabulated summary of adverse reactions

The following adverse drug reactions have been identified with sofosbuvir in combination with ribavirin or in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin (Table 6). The adverse reactions are listed below by body system organ class and frequency. Frequencies are defined as follows: 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) or very rare (<1/10,000).

Table 6. Adverse drug reactions identified with sofosbuvir in combination with ribavirin or peginterferon alfa and ribavirin:

^a SOF = sofosbuvir
^b RBV = ribavirin
^c PEG = peginterferon alfa
^d Decreased appetite was identified as an adverse drug reaction to Sovaldi in combination with ribavirin oral solution in paediatric patients aged 3 to <12 years

Description of selected adverse reactions

Cardiac arrhythmias

Cases of severe bradycardia and heart block have been observed when sofosbuvir containing-regimes are used in combination with amiodarone and/or other medicinal products that lower heart rate (see sections 4.4 and 4.5).

Skin disorders

Frequency not known: Stevens-Johnson syndrome

Other special population(s)

HIV/HCV co-infection

The safety profile of sofosbuvir and ribavirin in HCV/HIV co-infected adult patients was similar to that observed in mono-infected HCV patients treated with sofosbuvir and ribavirin in Phase 3 clinical studies (see section 5.1).

Patients awaiting liver transplantation

The safety profile of sofosbuvir and ribavirin in HCV infected adult patients prior to liver transplantation was similar to that observed in patients treated with sofosbuvir and ribavirin in Phase 3 clinical studies (see section 5.1).

Patients with Renal Impairment

Sofosbuvir in a fixed dose combination with ledipasvir was administered for 12 weeks to 18 patients with genotype 1 CHC and severe renal impairment in an open-label study (Study 0154). The safety of sofosbuvir in a fixed dose combination with either ledipasvir or velpatasvir has been studied in 154 patients with ESRD requiring dialysis (Study 4062 and Study 4063). In this setting, exposure of sofosbuvir metabolite GS-331007 is 20-fold increased, exceeding levels where adverse reactions have been observed in preclinical trials. In this limited clinical safety data set, the rate of adverse events and deaths was not clearly elevated from what is expected in ESRD patients.

Adult liver transplant recipients

The safety profile of sofosbuvir and ribavirin in liver transplant adult recipients with chronic hepatitis C was similar to that observed in patients treated with sofosbuvir and ribavirin in Phase 3 clinical studies (see section 5.1). In study 0126, decreases in haemoglobin during treatment were very common with 32.5% (13/40 patients) experiencing a decline in haemoglobin to <10 g/dL, 1 of whom also had a decline to <8.5 g/dL. Eight patients (20%) received epoetin and/or a blood product. In 5 patients (12.5%), study drugs were discontinued, modified or interrupted due to adverse events.

Paediatric population

The safety and efficacy of Sovaldi in paediatric patients aged 3 years and above are based on data from 106 patients who were treated with Sovaldi and ribavirin for 12 weeks (genotype 2 patients) and for 24 weeks (genotype 3 patients) in a Phase 2, open-label clinical trial. No adverse drug reactions specific to Sovaldi have been identified. The adverse reactions observed were generally consistent with those observed in clinical studies of Sovaldi plus ribavirin in adults (see Table 6). Decreased appetite was observed as a very common adverse drug reaction to Sovaldi when given in combination with ribavirin oral solution in paediatric patients aged 3 to < 12 years.

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.