Dysphagia Risk in Patients Prescribed Rivastigmine: A Systematic Analysis of FDA Adverse Event Reporting System

Comparing the risk of deep vein thrombosis of two combined oral contraceptives: Norethindrone/ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol

Background

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has been reported as an adverse event for patients receiving combined oral contraceptives. Norethindrone/ethinyl estradiol (NET/EE) and drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol (DRSP/EE) are two commonly prescribed combined hormonal oral contraceptive agents used in the United States, differing in their progestin component.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the progestin component of a combined oral contraceptive and the risk of DVT in patients taking oral contraceptives for birth control using data derived from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).

Methods

The risk of DVT was compared between patients that had taken NET/EE with those that had taken the DRSP/EE COC formulation for birth control. In addition, age was assessed as a possible confounder and the outcome severity for those diagnosed with DVT were compared between the two groups. Finally, association rule mining was utilized to identify possible drug-drug interactions that result in elevated DVT risk.

Results

DVT was the fourth most commonly adverse event reported for patients taking DRSP/EE accounting for 8558 cases and the seventeenth most commonly reported adverse event for NET/EE accounting for 298 cases. Age was found to be a significant confounder for users of DRSP/EE with regards to DVT risk across all age groups assessed: 2040 (ROR = 3.69, 95% CI 3.37-4.04) However, there was only a statistically significant elevated risk in patients over 40 years of age taking NET/EE (ROR = 1.98, 95% CI 1.36-2.88). Patients that had taken DRSP/EE and the corticosteroid prednisone simultaneously had an approximately 3-fold increase in DVT risk (ROR = 2.77, 95% CI 2.43-3.15) relative to individuals that had only taken DRSP/EE.

Conclusion

Based on this analysis, there is a higher risk of developing DVT when taking DRSP/EE than when taking NET/EE as hormonal contraception. In addition, a possibly significant drug-drug interaction between different COC formulations and prednisone were identified. This interaction may result in elevated DVT risk due to a synergistic impairment of fibrinolysis and a decrease in plasmin production.

Drug Repurposing Using FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) Database

Drug repurposing is an emerging approach to reassigning existing pre-approved therapies for new indications. The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) is a large database of over 28 million adverse event reports submitted by medical providers, patients, and drug manufacturers and provides extensive drug safety signal data. In this review, four common drug repurposing strategies using FAERS are described, including inverse signal detection for a single disease, drug-drug interactions that mitigate a target ADE, identifying drug-ADE pairs with opposing gene perturbation signatures and identifying drug-drug pairs with congruent gene perturbation signatures. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of these different approaches using existing successful applications in the literature. With the fast expansion of adverse drug event reports, FAERS-based drug repurposing represents a promising strategy for discovering new uses for existing therapies.

The association between warfarin usage and international normalized ratio increase: systematic analysis of FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS)

Introduction

Elevated international normalized ratio (INR) has been commonly reported as an adverse drug event (ADE) for patients taking warfarin for anticoagulant therapy.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between increased INR and the usage of warfarin by using the pharmacovigilance data from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).

Methods

The ADEs in patients who took warfarin (N = 77,010) were analyzed using FAERS data. Association rule mining was applied to identify warfarin-related ADEs that were most associated with elevated INR (n = 15,091) as well as possible drug-drug interactions (DDIs) associated with increased INR. Lift values were used to identify ADEs that were most commonly reported alongside elevated INR based on the correlation between both item sets. In addition, this study sought to determine if the increased INR risk was influenced by sex, age, temporal distribution, and geographic distribution and were reported as reporting odds ratios (RORs).

Results

The top 5 ADEs most associated with increased INR in patients taking warfarin were decreased hemoglobin (lift = 2.31), drug interactions (lift = 1.88), hematuria (lift = 1.58), asthenia (lift = 1.44), and fall (lift = 1.32). INR risk increased as age increased, with individuals older than 80 having a 63% greater likelihood of elevated INR compared to those younger than 50. Males were 9% more likely to report increased INR as an ADE compared to females. Individuals taking warfarin concomitantly with at least one other drug were 43% more likely to report increased INR. The top 5 most frequently identified DDIs in patients taking warfarin and presenting with elevated INR were acetaminophen (lift = 1.81), ramipril (lift = 1.71), furosemide (lift = 1.64), bisoprolol (lift = 1.58), and simvastatin (lift = 1.58).

Conclusion

The risk of elevated INR increased as patient age increased, particularly among those older than 80. Elevated INR frequently co-presented with decreased hemoglobin, drug interactions, hematuria, asthenia, and fall in patients taking warfarin. This effect may be less pronounced in women due to the procoagulatory effects of estrogen signaling. Multiple possible DDIs were identified, including acetaminophen, ramipril, and furosemide.

Advances of computer-aided drug design (CADD) in the development of anti-Azheimer's-disease drugs

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that progressively destroys memory and thinking skills. Currently there is no treatment to prevent or cure AD; targeting the direct cause of neuronal degeneration would constitute a rational strategy and hopefully offer better options for the treatment of AD. This paper first summarizes the physiological and pathological pathogenesis of AD and then discusses the representative drug candidates for targeted therapy of AD and their binding mode with their targets. Finally, the applications of computer-aided drug design in discovering anti-AD drugs are reviewed. Teaser.