Systemic fungal infections have been successfully treated in pregnant women with conventional amphotericin B without obvious effect on the foetus, but the number of cases reported is insufficient to draw any conclusions on the safety of AmBisome in pregnancy.

Lactation

It is unknown whether AmBisome is excreted in human breast milk. A decision on whether to breastfeed while receiving AmBisome should take into account the potential risk to the child as well as the benefit of breast feeding for the child and the benefit of AmBisome therapy for the mother.

Go to top of the page4.7 Effects on ability to drive and use machines
 No studies on the effects on the ability to drive and use machines have been performed. Some of the undesirable effects of AmBisome presented below may impact the ability to drive and use machines.
Go to top of the page4.8 Undesirable effects
 Fever and chills/rigors are the most frequent infusion-related reactions expected to occur during AmBisome administration. Less frequent infusion-related reactions may consist of one or more of the following symptoms: chest tightness or pain, dyspnoea, bronchospasm, flushing, tachycardia, hypotension and musculoskeletal pain (described as arthralgia, back pain, or bone pain). These resolve rapidly on stopping the infusion and may not occur with every subsequent dose or when slower infusion rates (over 2 hours) are used. In addition, infusion-related reactions may also be prevented by the use of premedication. However, severe infusion-related reactions may necessitate the permanent discontinuation of AmBisome (see section 4.4).

In two double-blind, comparative studies, AmBisome treated patients experienced a significantly lower incidence of infusion-related reactions, as compared to patients treated with conventional amphotericin B or amphotericin B lipid complex.

In pooled study data from randomised, controlled clinical trials comparing AmBisome with conventional amphotericin B therapy in greater than 1,000 patients, reported adverse reactions were considerably less severe and less frequent in AmBisome treated patients as compared with conventional amphotericin B treated patients.

Nephrotoxicity occurs to some degree with conventional amphotericin B in most patients receiving the drug intravenously. In a double-blind study involving 687 patients, the incidence of nephrotoxicity with AmBisome (as measured by serum creatinine increase greater than 2.0 times baseline measurement), was approximately half that for conventional amphotericin B. In another double-blind study involving 244 patients, the incidence of nephrotoxicity with AmBisome (as measured by serum creatinine increase greater than 2.0 times baseline measurement) is approximately half that for Amphotericin B lipid complex.

The following adverse reactions have been attributed to AmBisome based on clinical trial data and post-marketing experience. The frequency is based on analysis from pooled clinical trials of 688 AmBisome treated patients; the frequency of adverse reactions identified from post-marketing experience is not known. Adverse reactions are listed below by body system organ class using MedDRA and are sorted by frequency. Within each frequency grouping, undesirable effects are presented in order of decreasing seriousness.

Frequencies are defined as:
Very common

Common

Uncommon

Very rare
 ( 1/10)