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 spray in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis was assessed in 5 randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials that enrolled postmenopausal women, aged 45 to 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 spray (N=341) and to placebo nasal spray (N=131), and reported in greater than 3% of calcitonin salmon nasal spray 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 spray has not been established.
Table 1: Adverse Reactions Occurring in at Least 3% of Postmenopausal Patients Treated with Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray| †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 Spray | Placebo Nasal Spray |
| Adverse Reaction | N=341 % of Patients | N=131 % 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 spray, 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 spray 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 of malignancies in calcitonin salmon-treated patients compared to placebo-treated patients. The trials in the meta-analysis ranged in duration from 6 months to 5 years and included a total of 10883 patients (6151 treated with calcitonin salmon and 4732 treated with placebo). The overall incidence of malignancies reported in 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 an increased risk of overall malignancies in calcitonin salmon-treated patients compared to placebo-treated patients when all 21 trials 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 seen with the meta-analysis was heavily influenced by a single large 5-year trial, which had an observed risk difference of 3.4% [95% CI (0.4%, 6.5%)]. Imbalances in risks were still observed when analyses excluded basal cell carcinoma (see Table 2); the data were not sufficient for further analyses by type of malignancy. A mechanism for 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 individual patient should be carefully evaluated against all possible risks [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4)].
Table 2: Risk Difference for Malignancies in Calcitonin Salmon-Treated Patients Compared with Placebo-Treated Patients1 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. |
| Patients | Malignancies | Risk Difference1 (%) | 95% Confidence Interval2 (%) |
| 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) |