Use of unapproved or off-label drugs in Japan for the treatment of graft-versus-host disease and post-transplant viral infection.
Int J Hematol 2020;
112:841-850. [PMID:
32875487 DOI:
10.1007/s12185-020-02972-0]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 08/05/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Many drugs are used for unapproved indications in Japan for post hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) complications. To investigate unapproved or off-label drug usage for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and virus infections after allogeneic HCT, we analyzed the data of Japanese HCT registry. Between 2006 and 2017, 39,941 adults and children received HCT for a variety of disease and their transplant data were captured in the registry. Among them, 14,687 and 8914 patients receiving treatment for acute and/or chronic GVHD, 24,828 patients with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection or receiving therapies for CMV, and 4943 who received treatment for other viral infections were included in the analyses of off-label or unapproved drugs. For GVHD, mycophenolate mofetil was the most frequently used off-label drug, followed by beclomethasone, infliximab, and etanercept. For viral infections other than CMV, foscarnet was the most frequently used off-label drug. Cidofovir, which is not approved for use in Japan, was mainly used for adenovirus infection. This study demonstrated that numerous off-label and unapproved drugs have been used as key drugs for GVHD and post-transplant viral infection, and the real world date in the transplant registry may serve as an important asset to regulatory purposes.
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