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 clinical practice.
Adult Patients
The safety of XYWAV was evaluated in a 16‑week double-blind placebo-controlled randomized-withdrawal study in patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy (Study 1), which was followed by an open-label extension phase lasting 24 weeks [see Clinical Studies (14.1)]. Study 1 included an open‑label titration period (OL OTTP), a stable-dose period (SDP), and a double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, randomized-withdrawal period (DB RWP). A total of 201 patients, ages 18 to 70 years, received XYWAV at individually titrated doses for 14 weeks, followed by randomization to XYWAV or matching placebo for 2 weeks of treatment. The mean exposure to XYWAV during this study, including titration, the randomized withdrawal period, and the open-label extension, was 151 days. In patients who remained on treatment, adverse reactions tended to occur early and diminish over time.
Adverse Reactions Leading to Treatment Discontinuation
In Study 1, 9 of 201 patients (4%) reported adverse reactions that led to withdrawal from the study (anxiety, decreased appetite, depressed mood, depression, fatigue, headache, irritability, nausea, pain in extremity, parasomnia, somnolence, and vomiting). The most common adverse reaction leading to discontinuation was nausea (1.5%). The majority of adverse reactions leading to discontinuation began during the first few weeks of treatment.
Commonly Observed Adverse Reactions
The most common adverse reactions in Study 1 (incidence ≥ 5% of XYWAV-treated patients) were headache, nausea, dizziness, decreased appetite, parasomnia, diarrhea, hyperhidrosis, anxiety, and vomiting.
Adverse Reactions Occurring at an Incidence of 2% or Greater:
Table 3 lists adverse reactions observed in the open-label titration and stable dose periods of Study 1 that occurred at a frequency of 2% or greater in adult patients treated with XYWAV.
Table 3: Adverse Reactions Occurring in ≥2% of Adult Patients Treated with XYWAV in the Open-Label Titration and Stable Dose Periods in Study 1*Adverse Reaction | Open-Label Titration Period + Stable Dose Period (14 weeks) (N=201) % |
Headache | 20 |
Nausea | 13 |
Dizziness | 10 |
Decreased appetite | 8 |
Parasomnia† | 6 |
Diarrhea | 6 |
Hyperhidrosis‡ | 6 |
Anxiety§ | 5 |
Vomiting | 5 |
Fatigue¶ | 4 |
Dry mouth | 4 |
Depressed mood | 4 |
Enuresis | 4 |
Irritability | 3 |
Paresthesia | 3 |
Depression | 3 |
Tremor | 3 |
Somnolence | 2 |
Muscle spasms | 2 |
*Adverse reactions related to XYWAV were reported less frequently, as an overall incidence, in patients on Xyrem at study entry than in Xyrem-naïve patients.
†Includes abnormal dreams, abnormal sleep-related event, rapid eye movements sleep abnormal, sleep paralysis, sleep talking, sleep terror, sleep-related eating disorder, somnambulism
‡Includes hyperhidrosis and night sweats
§Includes anxiety, agitation, panic attack, tension
¶Includes fatigue and asthenia
Adverse Reactions Observed in Clinical Studies with Xyrem (≥2%), but not in Study 1, and Which May Be Relevant for XYWAV
Pain, feeling drunk, pain in extremity, cataplexy, disturbance in attention, sleep paralysis, and disorientation.
Pediatric Patients (7 Years of Age and Older)
In the pediatric clinical trial with Xyrem (same active moiety as XYWAV), 104 patients aged 7 to 17 years (37 patients aged 7 to 11 years; 67 patients aged 12 to 17 years) with narcolepsy received Xyrem up to 377 days (median exposure 332 days) [see Clinical Studies (14.2)].
Adverse Reactions Leading to Treatment Discontinuation
In the pediatric clinical trial with Xyrem, 5 of 104 patients reported adverse reactions that led to withdrawal from the study (hallucination, tactile; suicidal ideation; weight decreased; sleep apnea syndrome; and affect lability).
Adverse Reactions in the Xyrem Pediatric Clinical Trial
The most common adverse reactions (≥5%) were enuresis (18%), nausea (17%), headache (16%), vomiting (16%), weight decreased (12%), decreased appetite (8%), and dizziness (6%).
Additional information regarding safety in pediatric patients appears in the following sections:
- Respiratory Depression and Sleep-Disordered Breathing [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4)]
- Depression and Suicidality [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5)]
- Other Behavioral or Psychiatric Adverse Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6)]
- Parasomnias [see Warnings and Precautions (5.7)]
The overall adverse reaction profile of Xyrem in the pediatric clinical trial was similar to that seen in the adult clinical trial program. The safety profile in pediatric patients with XYWAV is expected to be similar to that of adult patients treated with XYWAV and to that of pediatric patients treated with Xyrem.