Product Details

Soliris

Eculizumab
10 mg/mL (300 mg/30 mL)
Solution for Infusion
Single-Use 300-mg Vial (Preservative-Free)

DIN/PIN/NPN

02322285

Manufacturer

Alexion Pharma GmbH

Formulary Listing Date

0000-00-00  

Unit Price

Amount MOH Pays

Coverage Status

Exceptional Access Program Product

ODB Formulary Therapeutic Classification

Therapeutic Note

NO

ATC Code

L04AA25

Interchangeable Products

NO  

LU Clinical Criteria

NO  

EAP Criteria

Therapeutic Class Reimbursement Criteria
Blood Modifiers

Eculizumab

  • Brand(s): Soliris
  • Dosage Form/Strength:10 mg/mL (300 mg per vial)

For the treatment of patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) meeting the following criteria:

The diagnosis of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) has been made based on the following confirmatory results: 

  • Flow cytometry/FLAER exam with granulocytes clone ≥ 10% AND 

  • LDH > 1.5 ULN 

AND at least one of the following: 

  • A thrombotic or embolic event which required the institution of therapeutic anticoagulant therapy, 

  • Minimum transfusion requirement of 4 units of red blood cells in the previous 12 months, 

  • Chronic or recurrent anemia where causes other than hemolysis have been excluded and demonstrated by more than one measure of less than or equal to 70 g/L or by more than one measure of less than or equal to 100 g/L with concurrent symptoms of anemia, 

  • Pulmonary insufficiency: Debilitating shortness of breath and/or chest pain resulting in limitation of normal activity (New York Heart Association Class III) and/or established diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension, where causes other than PNH have been excluded, 

  • Renal insufficiency: History of renal insufficiency, demonstrated by an eGFR less than or equal to 60 mL/min/1.73 m2, where causes other than PNH have been excluded,

  • Smooth muscle spasm: Recurrent episodes of severe pain requiring hospitalization and/or narcotic analgesia, where causes other than PNH have been excluded. 

The dose of eculizumab that will be considered is:
600 mg once per week for the first 4 weeks, then from week five of treatment, 900 mg once every 2 weeks 

Duration of Approval: 6 months 

Renewals will be considered for patients who:

  • Demonstrate clinical improvement while on therapy OR 

  • Where therapy has been shown to stabilize the patient’s condition 

Requests for renewal should be accompanied by confirmation of granulocyte clone size (by flow cytometry). 

Further, subsidized treatment may continue unless one or more of the following situations apply: 

  1. The patient or treating physician fails to comply adequately with treatment or measures, including monitoring requirements, taken to evaluate the effectiveness of the therapy; 

  1. If therapy fails to relieve the symptoms of disease that originally resulted in the patient being approved for subsidized treatment; 

Other eligibility requirements:

Note: All patients must receive meningococcal vaccination with a tetravalent vaccine at least two weeks prior to receiving the first dose of eculizumab. 

Exclusion criteria for both initial and renewal requests: 

  1. Small granulocyte clone size - the treatment of patients with a granulocyte clone size below 10% will not be eligible for treatment; OR 

  1. Aplastic anemia with two or more of the following: neutrophil count below 0.5 x 109/L, platelet count below 20 x 109/L, reticulocytes below 25 x 109/L, or severe bone marrow hypocellularity; OR

  1. Patients afflicted with PNH and another life-threatening or severe disease where the long-term prognosis is unlikely to be influenced by therapy (for example acute myeloid leukemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome); OR 

  1. The presence of another medical condition that might reasonably be expected to compromise a response to therapy.

PREAMBLE: 

A confirmed diagnosis of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is required for eculizumab funding. The information below is to provide clinicians with context for how a diagnosis of aHUS will be assessed for funding consideration. Details to address these issues should be provided in the funding request. 

While some patients may already have a confirmed aHUS diagnosis, by clinical history and/or genetic testing, the majority of patients presenting with thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) have no prior diagnosis of aHUS. For most patients presenting with a TMA, it is not possible to confidently separate aHUS from the vast majority of other conditions causing TMA until after appropriate testing and treatment have occurred. The majority of patients who have TMA suffer from Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) (30-40%), or a secondary form of TMA (e.g., pregnancy, HIV, collagen vascular disease, drugs, malignancy, stem cell transplant, malignant hypertension) (> 50%), or hemolytic uremic syndrome due to a Shiga toxin (>5%). In most cases, patients who suffer from TTP will have an ADAMTS-13 of less than 10%. If TTP has been ruled out and any secondary causes have been treated and the patient still has a persisting unexplained TMA with ADAMTS-13 ≥10%, the patient would be presumed to suffer from aHUS. Patients who present with ADAMTS-13 of ≥10% and who are unresponsive to plasma therapy (>4 plasma exchanges) and do not have a known secondary explanation would also be presumed to suffer from aHUS. 

In the absence of a confirmed diagnosis of aHUS, there is nothing in these criteria that changes the clinical expectation for appropriate use of plasma exchange/plasma infusion in the management of patients presenting with TMA. 

Initiation Criteria 

A patient must meet all three of the following criteria to obtain funding for initial treatment with eculizumab: 

  1. Confirmed diagnosis* of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) at initial presentation, defined by:
    a) Presence of an unexplained non- disseminated intravascular coagulation thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA);
    AND
    b)     Baseline ADAMTS-13 activity ≥ 10% on blood samples taken prior to plasma exchange or plasma infusion (PE/PI);

    Note:
    If the sample for ADAMTS-13 was not collected prior to PE or PI, platelet counts > 30 x 109/L and eGFR below 50 mL/min/1.73m2 at TMA presentation will be accepted as predictive of ADAMTS-13 ≥10% in TMA patients. In this case, measurement of ADAMTS-13 can be taken 1-2 weeks following the last PE. The ADAMTS-13 result must be provided within 30 days of commencement of eculizumab and at least 1 week after the last PE. A one-month interim funding for eculizumab will be provided.

    AND
    c) STEC-negative test in patients with a history of bloody diarrhea in the preceding two weeks;
    AND
    d)     Other diagnoses and causes of TMA must be ruled out, as per preamble. 

  1. Evidence of ongoing active and progressing TMA as defined by:
    a)     Thrombocytopenia (platelet count below 150 x 109/L) that is not explained by some other cause including secondary TMA; AND hemolysis as indicated by the documentation of two of the following: red blood cell (RBC) fragmentation (schistocytes) on the blood film; low or absent haptoglobin; or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) above normal;
    OR
    b)     Tissue biopsy confirming TMA in patients who do not have evidence of platelet consumption and hemolysis.

    Note:
    Review by external clinical expert may be required to assess requests for patients with ongoing TMA that may not clearly meet the above criteria.     

  1. Evidence of at least one of the following documented clinical features of active organ damage or impairment:
    a)     Kidney impairment as demonstrated by one of the following:
    o A decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or a rise in serum creatinine (SrCr) of >20% in a patient with pre-existing renal impairment; OR
    o     SrCr > upper limit of normal (ULN) for age or eGFR below 60mL/min in patients who have no history of pre-existing renal impairment (i.e., who have no baseline eGFR measurement); OR
    o     SrCr > the age-appropriate ULN in pediatric patients (subject to advice from a pediatric nephrologist); OR
    o     Renal biopsy;
    OR
    b)     Onset of neurological impairment related to TMA (e.g., visual field defect, hemiparesis, sensory loss, asymmetric limb weakness, confusion, loss of consciousness/coma, new onset seizure). 

Note: Patients who have extra-renal complications related to TMA (e.g., TMA-related cardiac impairment, TMA-related gastrointestinal impairment, or TMA-related pulmonary impairment) will be reviewed by an external clinical expert. 

Continuation Criteria (at 6 months):

After six months of eculizumab therapy, a further six-month of funding will be considered if the patient demonstrates treatment response, defined as: 

  • Hematological normalization (platelet count, LDH, haptoglobin); AND 

  • An improvement or stabilization of eGFR (or SrCr); AND 

  • Stabilization of neurological or extra-renal impairment if these complications were originally present. 

Continued treatment with eculizumab will not be funded beyond six months if a patient has experienced treatment failure, defined as: 

  • Dialysis-dependent at six months, and failed to demonstrate resolution or stabilization of neurological or extra-renal complications if these were originally present; OR 

  • On dialysis for ≥ four of the previous six months while receiving eculizumab and failed to demonstrate resolution or stabilization of neurological or extra-renal complications if these were originally present; OR

  • Worsening of kidney function with a reduction in eGFR or increase in SrCr ≥ 25% from baseline. 

Approval duration: 6 months 

Continuation Criteria (at 12 months): 

  1. Ongoing treatment response as defined in the 6-month continuation criteria; AND 

  1. The patient has limited organ reserve defined as:
    •     Significant cardiomyopathy, neurological, gastrointestinal or pulmonary impairment related to TMA; OR
    •     Grade 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease (eGFR below 30mL/min). (Note: Patients who are dialysis-dependent with no significant extra-renal manifestations persisting are not considered). 

There may be other exceptional circumstances where the patient has a high risk of recurrence and in whom consequences of a relapse are significant (e.g., complement Factor H genetic mutation, multiple clinical presentations of active TMA). These will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by an external clinical expert. 

For patients in whom a pause in therapy is recommended, funding will be left in place for 3 months so that eculizumab can be quickly restarted upon evidence of recurrence per recommencement criteria. 

Approval duration: 12 months 

Recommencement Criteria: 

A patient previously diagnosed with aHUS and who responded to treatment with eculizumab and has not failed eculizumab is eligible to restart eculizumab if the following clinical conditions are met: 

  • Significant hemolysis as evidenced by presence of schistocytes on the blood film, or low or absent haptoglobin, or LDH above normal;

    AND EITHER 

  • Platelet consumption as measured by either ≥ 25% decline from patient baseline or thrombocytopenia (platelet count below 150,000 x 109/L);

    OR 

  • TMA-related organ impairment (e.g., unexplained rise in serum creatinine with onset of urine dipstick positive for hemoglobin) including on recent biopsy. 

Note: 

  1. Raised LDH alone is not a sufficient reason to recommence eculizumab, but thrombocytopenia with one marker of hemolysis (such as raised LDH, presence of schistocytes, or low/absence of haptoglobin) is an accepted reason to recommence. 

  1. Kidney transplantation/dialysis is not a contraindication to recommencement.

A patient who becomes eligible to restart eculizumab, in accordance with the above criteria, will be assessed every 6 months for treatment response or failure. 

Approval duration: 6 months 

Patients undergoing kidney transplantation: 

For patients with a confirmed aHUS diagnosis who are undergoing kidney transplantation, eculizumab funding will be provided for the time period immediately prior to (or at time of) transplant. Treatment must be started immediately prior to or at time of transplant. 

Approval duration: 6 months 

All funding requests must come from, or be submitted in consultation with, a pediatric nephrologist, a nephrologist, a pediatric hematologist or a hematologist.

EAP Drug Request Form:

Standard Form for EAP Drug Requests

Product Monograph

View Monograph