Ketek

Ketek

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Questions & Answers

Side Effects & Adverse Reactions

Hepatotoxicity

Acute hepatic failure and severe liver injury, in some cases fatal, have been reported in patients treated with KETEK. These hepatic reactions included fulminant hepatitis and hepatic necrosis leading to liver transplant, and were observed during or immediately after treatment. In some of these cases, liver injury progressed rapidly and occurred after administration of a few doses of KETEK. (See ADVERSE REACTIONS)

Physicians and patients should monitor for the appearance of signs or symptoms of hepatitis, such as fatigue, malaise, anorexia, nausea, jaundice, bilirubinuria, acholic stools, liver tenderness or hepatomegaly. Patients with signs or symptoms of hepatitis must be advised to discontinue KETEK and immediately seek medical evaluation, which should include liver function tests. (See ADVERSE REACTIONS, PRECAUTIONS, Information to Patients.) If clinical hepatitis or transaminase elevations combined with other systemic symptoms occur, KETEK should be permanently discontinued.

Ketek must not be re-administered to patients with a previous history of hepatitis and/or jaundice associated with the use of KETEK tablets, or any macrolide antibiotic. (See CONTRAINDICATIONS)

In addition, less severe hepatic dysfunction associated with increased liver enzymes, hepatitis and in some cases jaundice was reported with the use of KETEK. These events associated with less severe forms of liver toxicity were reversible.

QTc prolongation

Telithromycin has the potential to prolong the QTc interval of the electrocardiogram in some patients. QTc prolongation may lead to an increased risk for ventricular arrhythmias, including torsades de pointes. Thus, telithromycin should be avoided in patients with congenital prolongation of the QTc interval, and in patients with ongoing proarrhythmic conditions such as uncorrected hypokalemia or hypomagnesemia, clinically significant bradycardia, and in patients receiving Class IA (e.g., quinidine and procainamide) or Class III (e.g., dofetilide) antiarrhythmic agents.

Cases of torsades de pointes have been reported post-marketing with KETEK. In clinical trials, no cardiovascular morbidity or mortality attributable to QTc prolongation occurred with telithromycin treatment in 4780 patients in clinical trials, including 204 patients having a prolonged QTc at baseline.

Visual disturbances*

KETEK may cause visual disturbances particularly in slowing the ability to accommodate and the ability to release accommodation. Visual disturbances included blurred vision, difficulty focusing, and diplopia. Most events were mild to moderate; however, severe cases have been reported.

Loss of Consciousness*

There have been post-marketing adverse event reports of transient loss of consciousness including some cases associated with vagal syndrome.

*Because of potential visual difficulties or loss of consciousness, patients should attempt to minimize activities such as driving a motor vehicle, operating heavy machinery or engaging in other hazardous activities during treatment with KETEK. If patients experience visual disorders or loss of consciousness while taking KETEK, patients should not drive a motor vehicle, operate heavy machinery or engage in other hazardous activities.
(See PRECAUTIONS, Information for Patients)

Drug Interactions

Serious adverse reactions have been reported in patients taking KETEK concomitantly with CYP 3A4 substrates. These include colchicine toxicity with colchicine; rhabdomyolysis with simvastatin, lovastatin, and atorvastatin; and hypotension with calcium channel blockers metabolized by CYP 3A4 (e.g., verapamil, amlodipine, diltiazem). (See PRECAUTIONS, Drug interactions.)

Life-threatening and fatal drug interactions have been reported in patients treated with colchicine and strong CYP 3A4 inhibitors. Telithromycin is a strong CYP 3A4 inhibitor and this interaction may occur while using both drugs at their recommended doses. If co-administration of telithromycin and colchicine is necessary in patients with normal renal and hepatic function, the dose of colchicine should be reduced. Patients should be monitored for clinical symptoms of colchicine toxicity. Concomitant administration of KETEK and colchicine is contraindicated in patients with renal or hepatic impairment. (See CONTRAINDICATIONS and PRECAUTIONS, Drug interactions.)

Pseudomembranous colitis

Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) has been reported with use of nearly all antibacterial agents, including KETEK, and may range in severity from mild diarrhea to fatal colitis. Treatment with antibacterial agents alters the normal flora of the colon leading to overgrowth of C. difficile.

C. difficile produces toxins A and B which contribute to the development of CDAD. Hypertoxin producing strains of C. difficile cause increased morbidity and mortality, as these infections can be refractory to antimicrobial therapy and may require colectomy. CDAD must be considered in all patients who present with diarrhea following antibiotic use. Careful medical history is necessary since CDAD has been reported to occur over two months after the administration of antibacterial agents.

If CDAD is suspected or confirmed, ongoing antibiotic use not directed against C. difficile may need to be discontinued. Appropriate fluid and electrolyte management, protein supplementation, antibiotic treatment of C difficile, and surgical evaluation should be instituted as clinically indicated.

Legal Issues

There is currently no legal information available for this drug.

FDA Safety Alerts

There are currently no FDA safety alerts available for this drug.

Manufacturer Warnings

There is currently no manufacturer warning information available for this drug.

FDA Labeling Changes

There are currently no FDA labeling changes available for this drug.

Uses

INDICATIONS AND USAGE

KETEK tablets are indicated for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (of mild to moderate severity) due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, (including multi-drug resistant isolates [MDRSP3]), Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, or Mycoplasma pneumoniae, for patients 18 years old and above.

To reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria and maintain the effectiveness of KETEK and other antibacterial drugs, KETEK should be used only to treat infections that are proven or strongly suspected to be caused by susceptible bacteria.  When culture and susceptibility information are available, they should be considered in selecting or modifying antibacterial therapy.  In the absence of such data, local epidemiology and susceptibility patterns may contribute to the empiric selection of therapy.

3
MDRSP, Multi-drug resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae includes isolates known as PRSP (penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae), and are isolates resistant to two or more of the following antibiotics: penicillin, 2 nd generation cephalosporins, e.g., cefuroxime, macrolides, tetracyclines and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.

History

There is currently no drug history available for this drug.

Other Information

KETEK® tablets contain telithromycin, a semisynthetic antibacterial in the ketolide class for oral administration. Chemically, telithromycin is designated as Erythromycin, 3-de[(2,6-dideoxy-3-C-methyl-3-O-methyl-α-L-ribo-hexopyranosyl)oxy]-11,12-dideoxy-6-O-methyl-3-oxo-12,11-[oxycarbonyl[[4-[4-(3-pyridinyl)-1H-imidazol-1-yl]butyl]imino]]-.

Telithromycin, a ketolide, differs chemically from the macrolide group of antibacterials by the lack of α-L-cladinose at position 3 of the erythronolide A ring, resulting in a 3-keto function. It is further characterized by a C11-12 carbamate substituted by an imidazolyl and pyridyl ring through a butyl chain. Its empirical formula is C43H65N5O10 and its molecular weight is 812.03. Telithromycin is a white to off-white crystalline powder. The following represents the chemical structure of telithromycin.


Chemical Structure
 

KETEK tablets are available as light-orange, oval, film-coated tablets, each containing 400 mg or 300 mg of telithromycin, and the following inactive ingredients:  croscarmellose sodium, hypromellose,  magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyethylene glycol, povidone, red ferric oxide, talc, titanium dioxide, and yellow ferric oxide.

Ketek Manufacturers


  • Physicians Total Care, Inc.
    Ketek (Telithromycin) Tablet, Film Coated [Physicians Total Care, Inc.]
  • Sanofi-aventis U.s. Llc
    Ketek (Telithromycin) Tablet, Film Coated [Sanofi-aventis U.s. Llc]

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