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Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is less susceptible than herpes simplex virus to acyclovir. The optimal acyclovir regimen during VZV encephalitis remains unknown. We report two cases of acute renal failure after an increase in acyclovir dosage from 10 mg to 15 mg/kg/8 h during the treatment of VZV encephalitis according to French guidelines.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is increasingly being reported in patients undergoing immunotherapy. We report a case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy after treatment with nivolumab, a PD-1 blocker that is used to restore impaired T-cell responses in patients with cancer and infections. Data for 4 other cases were obtained from pharmacovigilance databases.

ObjectiveDrug-induced lupus (DIL) is an idiosyncratic side effect of treatments in which symptoms overlap with those of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The spectrum of DIL constantly evolves with that of the pharmacopoeia. Here, we used VigiBase, the WHO global individual case safety reports (ICSRs) database, to identify the main drugs associated with DIL.MethodsWe analysed all ICSRs classified as ‘systemic lupus erythematosus’ according to the Medical Dictionary for Drug Regulatory Activities term (preferred term level) in VigiBase. The drugs considered in the analysis were those not used to treat SLE, with a positive lower end of the 95% credibility interval for the information component (IC025) ≥0, an indicator value for disproportionate Bayesian reporting.ResultsA total of 12 166 DIL ICSRs were identified using VigiBase. From those, 8163 ICSRs reporting on 118 suspected drugs with IC025 ≥0 were extracted. The median age at DIL onset was 49 years and the female to male sex ratio was 4.3. The median delay between start of suspected treatment and DIL occurrence was 172 days. DIL was reported as serious adverse event in 55.4%. Among the 118 suspected drugs, 42 had not been previously reported in association with DIL. The drugs associated with the highest number of DIL cases were infliximab, adalimumab, etanercept, procainamide and hydralazine.ConclusionThis study enables the identification of 118 drugs associated with DIL. The list of suspected drugs may prove useful to physicians when confronted with potential DIL cases.Trial registration numberNCT03480529.

Resume Introduction L’aplasie cutanee congenitale (ACC) apres exposition in utero aux antithyroidiens de synthese (ATS) de type methimazole/carbimazole (MTZ/CBZ) est decrite depuis 1972. Elle s’integre actuellement dans le concept d’embryopathie au MTZ/CMZ, mais reste mal caracterisee et discutee. A l’occasion de deux cas observes dans un court laps de temps, nous avons effectue une revue de la litterature et interroge la base de donnees nationale de pharmacovigilance. Materiel et methodes Une recherche d’articles scientifiques a ete realisee en interrogeant la base de donnees informatique Medline avec les mots cles « aplasia cutis congenita », « birth skin defects », « pregnancy » et « drug » ; tous les articles rapportant des cas d’ACC sous ATS ont ete inclus. A partir de la base de donnees nationale de pharmacovigilance, tous les cas declares d’ACC sous ATS ont ete inclus. Resultats Trois cent soixante-huit articles etaient references ; 27 ont ete retenus plus 4 additionnels, mentionnes dans les differentes publications, conduisant a 59 cas d’ACC sous MTZ/CMZ rapportes dans la litterature, avec une imputabilite intrinseque jugee plausible ou douteuse. L’ACC etait generalement isolee, unique et de petite taille, localisee au cuir chevelu median. L’exposition avait eu lieu durant les premieres semaines d’amenorrhee. On comptait six cas familiaux chez des freres et sœurs. Dix cas ont ete notifies a la pharmacovigilance dans toute la France. Discussion L’ACC sous MTZ/CMZ, isolee ou non, est une entite a connaitre. Il s’agit vraisemblablement d’un effet teratogene propre de ces medicaments, favorise par une susceptibilite genetique.

Erlotinib has been approved as second-line treatment in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) experiencing relapse after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Herein, we report two occurrences of erlotinib-associated gastrointestinal perforation (GIP) in NSCLC patients. Two patients aged 60 and 79 years received erlotinib as third- and second-line NSCLC treatment, respectively. GIP occurred following 3 weeks and 6 months of erlotinib treatment, leading to death a few days later in both patients, neither of whom had any intestinal metastasis. Risk factors related to erlotinib-induced GIP were concomitant oral corticosteroid therapy and ciprofloxacin administration, which may result in erlotinib overexposure. GIP is a severe adverse drug reaction of erlotinib, infrequently described in the literature, compared to other targeted therapies. The lethal risk of erlotinib-associated GIP should be taken into account when evaluating the benefit-risk balance of erlotinib in patients without epidermal growth factor receptor activating mutations.

Background Romiplostim and eltrombopag, the two marketed thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RAs), have distinct binding sites and might have distinct pharmacodynamic mechanisms. The aim of this study was to compare their adverse drug reaction (ADR) patterns. Methods We selected in the French PharmacoVigilance Database all ADRs associated with TPO-RAs from TPO-RA marketing until the 31st of December 2013. Medical charts were reviewed. We conducted disproportionality analyses comparing romiplostim exposure in the reports of a given ADR pattern (thrombosis, neurological, cutaneous, gastrointestinal or hematological) to romiplostim exposure in all other TPO-RA-related ADR reports. Reporting Odds Ratios (RORs) were adjusted for age and gender. We also compared the number of reports of a given ADR pattern per million daily defined doses (DDDs) dispensed in France during the study period. Results We described 45 reports (53 ADRs) with romiplostim and 26 reports (37 ADRs) with eltrombopag. There were 19 venous thromboses. At least one other risk factor was present in 83.3% of the cases. Ten (55.6%) patients had been splenectomized previously. There were eight arterial thromboses. Another risk factor was noticed in all cases. There was no signal for an excess risk of thrombosis with romiplostim versus eltrombopag (ROR: 1.45, 95% CI [0.48–4.45]). There was a signal for a higher risk of gastrointestinal ADRs with eltrombopag (ROR: 30.28, 95% CI [3.23–383.86]) and of hematological ADRs with romiplostim (ROR: 14.36, 95% CI [1.73–119.08]). Dispensing data-adjusted comparisons led to similar results. Conclusions This study suggests different ADR patterns between romiplostim and eltrombopag.