8 USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS
8.1 Pregnancy
Because INCIVEK must be used in combination with ribavirin and peginterferon alfa, the contraindications and warnings applicable to those drugs are applicable to combination treatment. Extreme care must be taken to avoid pregnancy in female patients and in female partners of male patients.

INCIVEK/Peginterferon Alfa/Ribavirin Combination Treatment

Pregnancy Category X: Animal studies have shown that ribavirin causes birth defects and/or fetal deaths while peginterferon alfa is abortifacient [see Contraindications (4) and Warnings and Precautions (5.1)]. See the prescribing information for ribavirin.

Significant teratogenic and/or embryocidal effects have been demonstrated in all animal species exposed to ribavirin; and therefore ribavirin is contraindicated in women who are pregnant and in the male partners of women who are pregnant [see Contraindications (4), Warnings and Precautions (5.1) and ribavirin prescribing information]. Interferons have abortifacient effects in animals and should be assumed to have abortifacient potential in humans (see peginterferon alfa prescribing information).

Extreme caution must be taken to avoid pregnancy in female patients and female partners of male patients while taking this combination. Women of childbearing potential and their male partners should not receive ribavirin unless they are using effective contraception (two reliable forms) during treatment with ribavirin and for 6 months after treatment. Systemic hormonal contraceptives may not be as effective in women while taking INCIVEK. Therefore, two alternative effective methods of contraception, including intrauterine devices and barrier methods, should be used in women during treatment with INCIVEK and concomitant ribavirin [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1)].

A Ribavirin Pregnancy Registry has been established to monitor maternal-fetal outcomes of pregnancies in female patients and female partners of male patients exposed to ribavirin during treatment and for 6 months following cessation of treatment. Health care providers and patients are encouraged to report such cases by calling 1-800-593-2214.

INCIVEK (telaprevir) Tablets

Pregnancy Category B: Telaprevir treatment alone in mice and rats did not result in harm to the fetus. The highest doses tested produced exposures equal to 1.84- and 0.60-fold the exposures in humans at the recommended clinical dose, respectively. Telaprevir treatment alone had effects on fertility parameters in rats. The no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) for testicular toxicity was established at exposures 0.17-fold the human exposures at the recommended clinical dose. Potential effects on sperm (e.g., decreased % motile sperm and increased non-motile sperm count) were observed in a rat fertility study at exposures 0.30-fold the human exposures at the recommended clinical dose. Additional effects on fertility include minor increases in percent preimplantation loss, in percent of dams with nonviable embryos and percent of nonviable conceptuses per litter. These effects are likely associated with testicular toxicity in male but contributions of the female cannot be ruled out. There are, however, no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women.