Telmisartan tablets have been evaluated for safety in more than 3700 patients, including 1900 treated for over 6 months and more than 1300 for over one year. Adverse experiences have generally been mild and transient in nature and have infrequently required discontinuation of therapy.
In placebo-controlled trials involving 1041 patients treated with various doses of telmisartan tablets (20 to 160 mg) monotherapy for up to 12 weeks, the overall incidence of adverse events was similar to that in patients treated with placebo.
Adverse events occurring at an incidence of ≥ 1% in patients treated with telmisartan tablets and at a greater rate than in patients treated with placebo, irrespective of their causal association, are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Adverse Events Occurring at an Incidence of ≥ 1% in Patients Treated with Telmisartan Tablets and at a Greater Rate Than Patients Treated with Placebo | Telmisartan n = 1455 % | Placebo n = 380 % |
Upper respiratory tract infection | 7 | 6 |
Back pain | 3 | 1 |
Sinusitis | 3 | 2 |
Diarrhea | 3 | 2 |
Pharyngitis | 1 | 0 |
In addition to the adverse events in the table, the following events occurred at a rate of ≥ 1% but were at least as frequent in the placebo group: influenza-like symptoms, dyspepsia, myalgia, urinary tract infection, abdominal pain, headache, dizziness, pain, fatigue, coughing, hypertension, chest pain, nausea, and peripheral edema. Discontinuation of therapy because of adverse events was required in 2.8% of 1455 patients treated with telmisartan tablets and 6.1% of 380 placebo patients in placebo-controlled clinical trials.
The incidence of adverse events was not dose-related and did not correlate with gender, age, or race of patients.
The incidence of cough occurring with telmisartan in 6 placebo-controlled trials was identical to that noted for placebo-treated patients (1.6%).
In addition to those listed above, adverse events that occurred in more than 0.3% of 3500 patients treated with telmisartan tablets monotherapy in controlled or open trials are listed below. It cannot be determined whether these events were causally related to telmisartan tablets:
Autonomic Nervous System: impotence, increased sweating, flushing;
Body as a Whole: allergy, fever, leg pain, malaise;
Cardiovascular: palpitation, dependent edema, angina pectoris, tachycardia, leg edema, abnormal ECG;
CNS: insomnia, somnolence, migraine, vertigo, paresthesia, involuntary muscle contractions, hypoesthesia;
Gastrointestinal: flatulence, constipation, gastritis, vomiting, dry mouth, hemorrhoids, gastroenteritis, enteritis, gastroesophageal reflux, toothache, non-specific gastrointestinal disorders;
Metabolic: gout, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus;
Musculoskeletal: arthritis, arthralgia, leg cramps;
Psychiatric: anxiety, depression, nervousness;
Resistance Mechanism: infection, fungal infection, abscess, otitis media;
Respiratory: asthma, bronchitis, rhinitis, dyspnea, epistaxis;
Skin: dermatitis, rash, eczema, pruritus;
Urinary: micturition frequency, cystitis;
Vascular: cerebrovascular disorder; and
Special Senses: abnormal vision, conjunctivitis, tinnitus, earache.
During initial clinical studies, a single case of angioedema was reported (among a total of 3781 patients treated).