Clinical Study Experience
Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.
In 5 controlled randomized clinical trials, Asclera (polidocanol injection) has been administered to 401 patients with small or very small varicose veins (reticular and spider veins) and compared with another sclerosing agent and with placebo. Patients were 18 to 70 years old. The patient population was predominately female and consisted of Caucasian and Asian patients.
Table 1 shows adverse events more common with Asclera (polidocanol injection) or sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS) 1% than with placebo by at least 3% in the placebo- controlled EASI study (see Clinical Studies). All of these were injection site reactions and most were mild.
Table 1: Adverse Reactions in EASI-study
| ASCLERA (180 patients) |
STS 1% (105 patients) |
Placebo (53 patients) |
|
| Injection site haematoma | 42% | 65% | 19% |
| Injection site irritation | 41% | 73% | 30% |
| Injection site discoloration | 38% | 74% | 4% |
| Injection site pain | 24% | 31% | 9% |
| Injection site pruritus | 19% | 27% | 4% |
| Injection site warmth | 16% | 21% | 6% |
| Neovascularisation | 8% | 20% | 4% |
| Injection site thrombosis | 6% | 1% | 0% |
Ultrasound examinations at one week (±3 days) and 12 weeks (±2 weeks) after treatment did not reveal deep vein thrombosis in any treatment group.
Post-marketing Safety Experience
The following adverse reactions have been reported during use of polidocanol in world-wide experience; in some of these cases these adverse events have been serious or troublesome. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size and without a control group, it is not possible to estimate their frequency reliably or to establish a causal relationship to drug exposure.
Immune system disorders: Anaphylactic shock, angioedema, urticaria generalized, asthma
Nervous system disorders: Cerebrovascular accident, migraine, paresthesia (local), loss of consciousness, confusional state, dizziness
Cardiac disorders: Cardiac arrest, palpitations
Vascular disorders. Deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, syncope vasovagal, circulatory collapse, vasculitis
Respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders: Dyspnea
Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders: Skin hyperpigmentation, dermatitis allergic, hypertrichosis (in the area of sclerotherapy)
General disorders and injection site conditions: Injection site necrosis, pyrexia, hot flush
Injury, poisoning and procedural complications: Nerve injury