Severe gastrointestinal disease

BYDUREON has not been studied in patients with severe gastrointestinal disease, including gastroparesis. Its use is commonly associated with gastrointestinal adverse reactions, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Therefore, the use of BYDUREON is not recommended in patients with severe gastrointestinal disease.

Acute pancreatitis

There have been rare, spontaneously reported events of acute pancreatitis. Patients should be informed of the characteristic symptom of acute pancreatitis: persistent, severe abdominal pain. Resolution of pancreatitis has been observed with supportive treatment, but very rare cases of necrotizing or haemorrhagic pancreatitis and/or death have been reported. If pancreatitis is suspected, BYDUREON and other potentially suspect medicinal products should be discontinued. Treatment with BYDUREON should not be resumed after pancreatitis has been diagnosed.

Concomitant medicinal products

The concurrent use of BYDUREON with insulin, Dphenylalanine derivatives (meglitinides), alphaglucosidase inhibitors, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors or other GLP-1 receptor agonists has not been studied. The concurrent use of BYDUREON and exenatide twice daily (BYETTA) has not been studied and is not recommended.

Hypoglycaemia

The risk of hypoglycaemia was increased when BYDUREON was used in combination with a sulphonylurea in clinical trials. Furthermore, in the clinical studies, patients on a sulphonylurea combination, with mild renal impairment had an increased incidence of hypoglycaemia compared to patients with normal renal function. To reduce the risk of hypoglycaemia associated with the use of a sulphonylurea, reduction in the dose of sulphonylurea should be considered.

Rapid weight loss

Rapid weight loss at a rate of >1.5 kg per week has been reported in patients treated with exenatide. Weight loss of this rate may have harmful consequences.

Interaction with warfarin

There have been some reported cases of increased INR (International Normalized Ratio), sometimes associated with bleeding, with concomitant use of warfarin and exenatide (see section 4.5).

Discontinuation of treatment

After discontinuation, the effect of BYDUREON may continue as plasma levels of exenatide decline over 10 weeks. Choice of other medicinal products and dose selection should be considered accordingly, as adverse reactions may continue and efficacy may, at least partly, persist until exenatide levels decline.

4.5 Interaction with other medicinal products and other forms of interaction

 The results of a study using paracetamol as a marker of gastric emptying suggest that the effect of BYDUREON to slow gastric emptying is minor and not expected to cause clinically significant reductions in the rate and extent of absorption of concomitantly administered oral medicinal products. Therefore, no dose adjustments for medicinal products sensitive to delayed gastric emptying are required.

When 1,000 mg paracetamol tablets were administered, eith