occurred in 37/202 patients (18%) receiving SUTENT in the double-blind treatment phase of GIST Study A, compared to 17/102 patients (17%) receiving placebo. Epistaxis was the most common hemorrhagic adverse event reported. Less common bleeding events in GIST or RCC patients included rectal, gingival, upper gastrointestinal, genital, and wound bleeding. In the double-blind treatment phase of GIST Study A, 14/202 patients (7%) receiving SUTENT and 9/102 patients (9%) on placebo had Grade 3 or 4 bleeding events. In addition, one patient in GIST Study A taking placebo had a fatal gastrointestinal bleeding event during Cycle 2. Most events in RCC patients were Grade 1 or 2; there was one Grade 5 event of gastric bleed in a treatment-naïve patient.
Tumor-related hemorrhage has been observed in patients treated with SUTENT. These events may occur suddenly, and in the case of pulmonary tumors may present as severe and life-threatening hemoptysis or pulmonary hemorrhage. Fatal pulmonary hemorrhage occurred in 2 patients receiving SUTENT on a clinical trial of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Both patients had squamous cell histology. SUTENT is not approved for use in patients with NSCLC. Treatment-emergent Grade 3 and 4 tumor hemorrhage occurred in 5/202 patients (3%) with GIST receiving SUTENT on Study A. Tumor hemorrhages were observed as early as Cycle 1 and as late as Cycle 6. One of these five patients received no further drug following tumor hemorrhage. None of the other four patients discontinued treatment or experienced dose delay due to tumor hemorrhage. No patients with GIST in the Study A placebo arm were observed to undergo intratumoral hemorrhage. Clinical assessment of these events should include serial complete blood counts (CBCs) and physical examinations.
Serious, sometimes fatal gastrointestinal complications including gastrointestinal perforation, have occurred rarely in patients with intra-abdominal malignancies treated with SUTENT.
Baseline laboratory measurement of thyroid function is recommended and patients with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism should be treated as per standard medical practice prior to the start of SUTENT treatment. All patients should be observed closely for signs and symptoms of thyroid dysfunction on SUTENT treatment. Patients with signs and/or symptoms suggestive of thyroid dysfunction should have laboratory monitoring of thyroid function performed and be treated as per standard medical practice.
Treatment-emergent acquired hypothyroidism was noted in eight GIST patients (4%) on SUTENT versus one (1%) on placebo. Hypothyroidism was reported as an adverse reaction in sixty-one patients (16%) on SUTENT in the treatment-naïve RCC study and in three patients (1%) in the IFN-α arm.
Cases of hyperthyroidism, some followed by hypothyroidism, have been reported in clinical trials and through post-marketing experience.
Physicians prescribing SUTENT are advised to monitor for adrenal insufficiency in patients who experience stress such as surgery, trauma or severe infection.
Adrenal toxicity was noted in non-clinical repeat dose studies of 14 days to 9 months in rats and monkeys at plasma exposures as low as 0.7 times the AUC observed in clinical studies. Histological changes of the adrenal gland were characterized as hemorrhage, necrosis, congestion, hypertrophy and inflammation. In clinical studies, CT/MRI obtained in 336 patients after exp
