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 safety of Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis was assessed in 5 randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials that enrolled postmenopausal women, aged 45-75 years. The duration of the trials ranged from 1 to 2 years. The incidence of adverse reactions reported in studies involving postmenopausal osteoporotic patients chronically exposed to Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution (N=341) and to placebo nasal spray (N=131), and reported in greater than 3% of Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution treated patients are presented in the following table. Other than flushing, nausea, possible allergic reactions, and possible local irritative effects in the respiratory tract, a relationship to Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution has not been established.
Table 1. Adverse Reactions Occurring in at Least 3% Of Postmenopausal Patients Treated with Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution| † Symptom of nose includes: nasal crusts, dryness, redness or erythema, nasal sores, irritation, itching, thick feeling, soreness, pallor, infection, stenosis, runny/blocked, small wound, bleeding wound, tenderness, uncomfortable feeling and sore across bridge of nose. |
| |
| | Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution N = 341 | Placebo Nasal Spray N = 131 |
| Adverse Reaction | % of Patients | % of Patients |
| Rhinitis | 12 | 7 |
| Symptom of Nose† | 11 | 16 |
| Back Pain | 5 | 2 |
| Arthralgia | 4 | 5 |
| Epistaxis | 4 | 5 |
| Headache | 3 | 5 |
Nasal Adverse Reactions: In all postmenopausal patients treated with Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution , the most commonly reported nasal adverse reactions included rhinitis (12%), epistaxis (4%), and sinusitis (2%). Smoking did not have a contributory effect on the occurrence of nasal adverse reactions.
Adverse reactions reported in 1 to 3% of patients treated with Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Solution include: influenza-like symptoms, erythematous rash, arthrosis, myalgia, sinusitis, upper respiratory tract infection, bronchospasm, abdominal pain, nausea, dizziness, paresthesia, abnormal lacrimation, conjunctivitis, lymphadenopathy, infection, and depression.
Malignancy
A meta-analysis of 21 randomized, controlled clinical trials with calcitonin-salmon (nasal spray or investigational oral formulations) was conducted to assess the risk ofmalignancies in calcitonin-salmon treated patients compared to placebo-treatedpatients. The trialsin the meta-analysis ranged in duration from6 months to 5 years and included a total of10883 patients (6151 treated with calcitonin-salmon and 4732 treated with placebo). The overall incidence of malignancies reportedin these 21 trials was higher among calcitonin-salmon- treated patients (254/6151 or 4.1%) compared with placebo-treated patients (137/4732 or 2.9%). Findings were similar when analyses were restricted to the 18 nasal spray only trials [calcitonin-salmon 122/2712 (4.5%); placebo 30/1309 (2.3%)].
The meta-analysis results suggest anincreased risk of overall malignanciesin calcitonin-salmon-treated patients compared to placebo-treated patientswhen all 21trials are included and when the analysis is restricted to the 18 nasal spray only trials (see Table 2). It is not possible to exclude an increased risk when calcitonin-salmon is administered by the subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intravenous route because these routes of administration were not investigated in the meta-analysis. The increased malignancy risk seenwith the meta-analysis was heavily influenced by a single large 5-year trial, which had an observed riskdifference of 3.4% [95% CI (0.4%, 6.5%)]. Imbalances in risks were still observed when analysesexcluded basal cell carcinoma (see Table 2); the data were not sufficient for furtheranalyses by type of malignancy. A mechanismfor these observations has not been identified. Although a definitive causal relationship between calcitonin-salmon use and malignancies cannot be established from this meta-analysis, the benefits for the individualpatient should be carefully evaluated against all possible risks [seeWARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS (5.4)].
Table 2: Risk Difference for Malignancies in Calcitonin-Salmon Treated Patients Compared with Placebo-Treated Patients
| Patients | Malignancies | Risk Difference 1 (%) | 95% Confidence Interval 2 (%) |
| All (nasal spray + oral) | All | 1.0 | (0.3, 1.6) |
| All (nasal spray + oral) | Excluding basal cell carcinoma | 0.5 | (-0.1, 1.2) |
| All (nasal spray only) | All | 1.4 | (0.3, 2.6) |
| All (nasal spray only) | Excluding basal cell carcinoma | 0.8 | (-0.2, 1.8) |
| 1 The overall adjusted risk difference is the difference between the percentage of patients who had any malignancy (or malignancy excluding basal cell carcinoma) in calcitonin-salmon and placebo treatment groups, using the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) fixed-effect method. A risk difference of 0 is suggestive of no difference in malignancy risks between the treatment groups. 2 The corresponding 95% confidence interval for the overall adjusted risk difference also based on MH fixed-effect method. |