Erleada

Erleada Side Effects Center

What Is Erleada?

Erleada (apalutamide tablets) is an androgen receptor inhibitor indicated for the treatment of patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

What Are Side Effects of Erleada?

Common side effects of Erleada include:

• fatigue,
• high blood pressure (hypertension),
• rash,
• diarrhea,
• nausea,
• weight loss,
• joint pain,
• falls,
• hot flushes,
• decreased appetite,
• fractures, and
• swelling of extremities

Dosage for Erleada

The dose of Erleada is 240 mg (four 60 mg tablets) administered orally once daily. Swallow tablets whole.

What Drugs, Substances, or Supplements Interact with Erleada?

Erleada can be taken with or without food. Erleada may interact with medications that are sensitive substrates of CYP3A4, CYP2C19, CYP2C9, UGT, P-gp, BCRP, or OATP1B1. Tell your doctor all medications and supplements you use.

Erleada During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

Erleada is not indicated for use in females, so it is unlikely to be used during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. Males with female partners of reproductive potential should talk to their doctors about using contraception during treatment and for 3 months following the last dose of Erleada.

Additional Information

Our Erleada (apalutamide tablets) Side Effects Drug Center provides a comprehensive view of available drug information on the potential side effects when taking this medication.

 

Erleada Consumer Information

Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction (hives, difficult breathing, swelling in your face or throat) or a severe skin reaction (fever, sore throat, burning eyes, skin pain, red or purple skin rash with blistering and peeling).

Call your doctor at once if you have:

• chest pain or discomfort (even while at rest), shortness of breath;
• a seizure;
• a fall; or
• signs of a stroke--sudden numbness or weakness (especially on one side of the body), severe headache, slurred speech, balance problems.

Accidental falls may be more common in elderly patients who use apalutamide. Use caution to avoid falling or accidental injury while you are being treated with this medicine.

Common side effects may include:

• hot flashes;
• diarrhea, loss of appetite;
• weight loss;
• tiredness;
• falls;
• rash;
• joint pain;
• increased blood pressure; or
• bone fractures.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Read the entire detailed patient monograph for Erleada (Apalutamide Tablets)

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Erleada Professional Information

SIDE EFFECTS

The following are discussed in more detail in other sections of the labeling:

• Ischemic Cardiovascular Events [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
• Fractures [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
• Falls [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].
• Seizure [see WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS].

Clinical Trial Experience

Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.

The most common adverse reactions (≥ 10%) that occurred more frequently in the ERLEADA-treated patients (≥ 2% over placebo) from the randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials (TITAN and SPARTAN) were fatigue, arthralgia, rash, decreased appetite, fall, weight decreased, hypertension, hot flush, diarrhea, and fracture.

Metastatic Castration-sensitive Prostate Cancer (mCSPC)

TITAN, a randomized (1:1), double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical study, enrolled patients who had mCSPC. In this study, patients received either ERLEADA at a dose of 240 mg daily or placebo. All patients in the TITAN study received a concomitant gonadotropinreleasing hormone (GnRH) analog or had prior bilateral orchiectomy. The median duration of exposure was 20 months (range: 0 to 34 months) in patients who received ERLEADA and 18 months (range: 0.1 to 34 months) in patients who received placebo.

Ten patients (2%) who were treated with ERLEADA died from adverse reactions. The reasons for death were ischemic cardiovascular events (n=3), acute kidney injury (n=2), cardiorespiratory arrest (n=1), sudden cardiac death (n=1), respiratory failure (n=1), cerebrovascular accident (n=1), and large intestinal ulcer perforation (n=1). ERLEADA was discontinued due to adverse reactions in 8% of patients, most commonly from rash (2%). Adverse reactions leading to dose interruption or reduction of ERLEADA occurred in 23% of patients; the most frequent (>1%) were rash, fatigue, and hypertension. Serious adverse reactions occurred in 20% of ERLEADA-treated patients and 20% in patients receiving placebo.

Table 1 shows adverse reactions occurring in ≥10% on the ERLEADA arm in TITAN that occurred with a ≥2% absolute increase in frequency compared to placebo. Table 2 shows laboratory abnormalities that occurred in ≥15% of patients, and more frequently (>5%) in the ERLEADA arm compared to placebo.

Table 1: Adverse Reactions in TITAN (mCSPC)

Additional adverse reactions of interest occurring in 2%, but less than 10% of patients treated with ERLEADA included diarrhea (9% versus 6% on placebo), muscle spasm (3% versus 2% on placebo), dysgeusia (3% versus 1% on placebo), and hypothyroidism (4% versus 1% on placebo).

Table 2: Laboratory Abnormalities Occurring in ≥ 15% of ERLEADA-Treated Patients and at a Higher Incidence than Placebo (Between Arm Difference > 5% All Grades) in TITAN (mCSPC)

Non-metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (nmCRPC)

SPARTAN, a randomized (2:1), double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical study, enrolled patients who had nmCRPC. In this study, patients received either ERLEADA at a dose of 240 mg daily or a placebo. All patients in the SPARTAN study received a concomitant gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog or had a bilateral orchiectomy. The median duration of exposure was 16.9 months (range: 0.1 to 42 months) in patients who received ERLEADA and 11.2 months (range: 0.1 to 37 months) in patients who received placebo.

Eight patients (1%) who were treated with ERLEADA died from adverse reactions. The reasons for death were infection (n=4), myocardial infarction (n=3), and cerebral hemorrhage (n=1). One patient (0.3%) treated with placebo died from an adverse reaction of cardiopulmonary arrest (n=1). ERLEADA was discontinued due to adverse reactions in 11% of patients, most commonly from rash (3%). Adverse reactions leading to dose interruption or reduction of ERLEADA occurred in 33% of patients; the most common (>1%) were rash, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, hypertension, and hematuria. Serious adverse reactions occurred in 25% of ERLEADA-treated patients and 23% in patients receiving placebo. The most frequent serious adverse reactions (>2%) were fracture (3%) in the ERLEADA arm and urinary retention (4%) in the placebo arm.

Table 3 shows adverse reactions occurring in ≥10% on the ERLEADA arm in SPARTAN that occurred with a ≥2% absolute increase in frequency compared to placebo. Table 4 shows laboratory abnormalities that occurred in ≥15% of patients, and more frequently (>5%) in the ERLEADA arm compared to placebo.

Table 3: Adverse Reactions in SPARTAN (nmCRPC)

Additional clinically significant adverse reactions occurring in 2% or more of patients treated with ERLEADA included hypothyroidism (8.1% versus 2% on placebo), pruritus (6.2% versus 2% on placebo), and heart failure (2.2% versus 1% on placebo).

Table 4: Laboratory Abnormalities Occurring in ≥ 15% of ERLEADA-Treated Patients and at a Higher Incidence than Placebo (Between Arm Difference > 5% All Grades) in SPARTAN (nmCRPC)

Rash

In the combined data of two randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies, rash associated with ERLEADA was most commonly described as macular or maculo-papular. Adverse reactions of rash were reported for 26% of patients treated with ERLEADA versus 8% of patients treated with placebo. Grade 3 rashes (defined as covering > 30% body surface area [BSA]) were reported with ERLEADA treatment (6%) versus placebo (0.5%).

The onset of rash occurred at a median of 83 days of ERLEADA treatment. Rash resolved in 78% of patients within a median of 78 days from onset of rash. Rash was commonly managed with oral antihistamines, topical corticosteroids, and 19% of patients received systemic corticosteroids. Dose reduction or dose interruption occurred in 14% and 28% of patients, respectively. Of the patients who had dose interruption, 59% experienced recurrence of rash upon reintroduction of ERLEADA.

Hypothyroidism

In the combined data of two randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies, hypothyroidism was reported for 8% of patients treated with ERLEADA and 2% of patients treated with placebo based on assessments of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) every 4 months. Elevated TSH occurred in 25% of patients treated with ERLEADA and 7% of patients treated with placebo. The median onset was at the first scheduled assessment. There were no Grade 3 or 4 adverse reactions. Thyroid replacement therapy was initiated in 5% of patients treated with ERLEADA. Thyroid replacement therapy, when clinically indicated, should be initiated or dose-adjusted [see DRUG INTERACTIONS].

Post-Marketing Experience

The following additional adverse reactions have been identified during post-approval use of ERLEADA. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate the frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure.

Respiratory, Thoracic and Mediastinal Disorders: interstitial lung disease

Read the entire FDA prescribing information for Erleada (Apalutamide Tablets)