Soliris is indicated for the treatment of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) to reduce hemolysis.

Soliris is indicated for the treatment of patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) to inhibit complement-mediated thrombotic microangiopathy.

Soliris is indicated for the treatment of generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) in adult patients who are anti-acetylcholine receptor (AchR) antibody positive.

Soliris is indicated for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in adult patients who are anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody positive.

Provide two weeks of antibacterial drug prophylaxis to patients if Soliris must be initiated immediately and vaccines are administered less than two weeks before starting Soliris therapy.

For patients 18 years of age and older, Soliris therapy consists of:

For patients 18 years of age and older, Soliris therapy consists of:

Administer Soliris at the recommended dosage regimen time points, or within two days of these time points.

For adult patients with generalized myasthenia gravis or neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, Soliris therapy consists of:

Administer Soliris at the recommended dosage regimen time points, or within two days of these time points.

For adult and pediatric patients with aHUS, and adult patients with gMG or NMOSD, supplemental dosing of Soliris is required in the setting of concomitant plasmapheresis or plasma exchange, or fresh frozen plasma infusion (PE/PI) (Table 2).

Dilute Soliris to a final admixture concentration of 5 mg/mL using the following steps:

The final admixed Soliris 5 mg/mL infusion volume is 60 mL for 300 mg doses, 120 mL for 600 mg doses, 180 mL for 900 mg doses or 240 mL for 1200 mg doses (Table 3).

Gently invert the infusion bag containing the diluted Soliris solution to ensure thorough mixing of the product and diluent. Discard any unused portion left in a vial, as the product contains no preservatives.

Prior to administration, the admixture should be allowed to adjust to room temperature [18°-25° C, 64°-77° F]. The admixture must not be heated in a microwave or with any heat source other than ambient air temperature.

Parenteral drug products should be inspected visually for particulate matter and discoloration prior to administration, whenever solution and container permit.

Administer the Soliris admixture by intravenous infusion over 35 minutes in adults and 1 to 4 hours in pediatric patients via gravity feed, a syringe-type pump, or an infusion pump. Admixed solutions of Soliris are stable for 24 h at 2°-8° C (36°-46° F) and at room temperature.

If an adverse reaction occurs during the administration of Soliris, the infusion may be slowed or stopped at the discretion of the physician. If the infusion is slowed, the total infusion time should not exceed two hours in adults. Monitor the patient for at least one hour following completion of the infusion for signs or symptoms of an infusion-related reaction.

The effect of withdrawal of anticoagulant therapy during Soliris treatment has not been established. Therefore, treatment with Soliris should not alter anticoagulant management.

Administration of Soliris may result in infusion-related reactions, including anaphylaxis or other hypersensitivity reactions. In clinical trials, no patients experienced an infusion-related reaction which required discontinuation of Soliris. Interrupt Soliris infusion and institute appropriate supportive measures if signs of cardiovascular instability or respiratory compromise occur.

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.

As with all proteins, there is a potential for immunogenicity. The detection of antibody formation is highly dependent on the sensitivity and specificity of the assay. Additionally, the observed incidence of antibody (including neutralizing antibody) positivity in an assay may be influenced by several factors including assay methodology, sample handling, timing of sample collection, concomitant medications, and underlying disease. For these reasons, comparison of the incidence of antibodies to eculizumab in the studies described below with the incidence of antibodies in other studies or to other products may be misleading.

The immunogenicity of Soliris has been evaluated using two different immunoassays for the detection of anti-eculizumab antibodies: a direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using the Fab fragment of eculizumab as target was used for the PNH indication; and an electro-chemiluminescence (ECL) bridging assay using the eculizumab whole molecule as target was used for the aHUS, gMG, and NMOSD indications, as well as for additional patients with PNH. In the PNH population, antibodies to Soliris were detected in 3/196 (2%) patients using the ELISA assay and in 5/161 (3%) patients using the ECL assay. In the aHUS population, antibodies to Soliris were detected in 3/100 (3%) patients using the ECL assay. None of the 62 patients with gMG had antibodies to Soliris detected following the 26-week active treatment. Two of the 96 (2%) Soliris-treated patients with NMOSD had antibodies to Soliris detected during the entire treatment period.

An ECL based neutralizing assay with a low sensitivity of 2 mcg/mL was performed to detect neutralizing antibodies for the 5 patients with PNH, the 3 patients with aHUS, and the 2 patients with NMOSD with anti-eculizumab antibody positive samples using the ECL assay. Two of 161 patients with PNH (1.2%) and 1 of 100 patients with aHUS (1%), and none of the 96 patients with NMOSD had low positive values for neutralizing antibodies.

No apparent correlation of antibody development to clinical response was observed.

The following adverse reactions have been identified during post-approval use of Soliris. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to Soliris exposure.

Safety and effectiveness of Soliris for the treatment of PNH, gMG, or NMOSD in pediatric patients have not been established.

Fifty-one patients 65 years of age or older (15 with PNH, 4 with aHUS, 26 with gMG, and 6 with NMOSD) were treated with Soliris in clinical trials in the approved indications. Although there were no apparent age-related differences observed in these studies, the number of patients aged 65 and over is not sufficient to determine whether they respond differently from younger patients.

Eculizumab, the active ingredient in Soliris, is a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to the complement protein C5 with high affinity, thereby inhibiting its cleavage to C5a and C5b and preventing the generation of the terminal complement complex C5b-9.

Soliris inhibits terminal complement-mediated intravascular hemolysis in PNH patients and complement-mediated thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) in patients with aHUS.

The precise mechanism by which eculizumab exerts its therapeutic effect in gMG patients is unknown, but is presumed to involve reduction of terminal complement complex C5b-9 deposition at the neuromuscular junction.

The precise mechanism by which eculizumab exerts its therapeutic effect in NMOSD is unknown, but is presumed to involve inhibition of aquaporin-4-antibody induced terminal complement C5b-9 deposition.

In patients with PNH, aHUS, gMG, and NMOSD, free C5 concentrations of < 0.5 mcg/mL was correlated with complete blockade of terminal complement activity.

Steady state was achieved 4 weeks after starting eculizumab treatment, with accumulation ratio of approximately 2-fold in all studied indications. Population pharmacokinetic analyses showed that eculizumab pharmacokinetics were dose-linear and time-independent over the 600 mg to 1200 mg dose range, with inter-individual variability of 21% to 38%.

Long-term animal carcinogenicity studies of eculizumab have not been conducted.

Genotoxicity studies have not been conducted with eculizumab.

Effects of eculizumab upon fertility have not been studied in animals. Intravenous injections of male and female mice with a murine anti-C5 antibody at up to 4-8 times the equivalent of the clinical dose of Soliris had no adverse effects on mating or fertility.

The safety and efficacy of Soliris in PNH patients with hemolysis were assessed in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 26 week study (PNH Study 1, NCT00122330); PNH patients were also treated with Soliris in a single arm 52 week study (PNH Study 2, NCT00122304) and in a long-term extension study (E05-001, NCT00122317). Patients received meningococcal vaccination prior to receipt of Soliris. In all studies, the dose of Soliris was 600 mg study drug every 7 ± 2 days for 4 weeks, followed by 900 mg 7 ± 2 days later, then 900 mg every 14 ± 2 days for the study duration. Soliris was administered as an intravenous infusion over 25 - 45 minutes.

Endpoints related to TMA included the following:

The efficacy of Soliris for the treatment of gMG was established in gMG Study 1 (NCT01997229), a 26-week randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial that enrolled patients who met the following criteria at screening:

A total of 62 patients were randomized to receive Soliris treatment and 63 were randomized to receive placebo. Baseline characteristics were similar between treatment groups, including age at diagnosis (38 years in each group), gender [66% female (eculizumab) versus 65% female (placebo)], and duration of gMG [9.9 (eculizumab) versus 9.2 (placebo) years]. Over 95% of patients in each group were receiving acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibitors, and 98% were receiving immunosuppressant therapies (ISTs). Approximately 50% of each group had been previously treated with at least 3 ISTs.

The primary efficacy endpoint for gMG Study 1 was a comparison of the change from baseline between treatment groups in the Myasthenia Gravis-Specific Activities of Daily Living scale (MG-ADL) total score at Week 26. The MG-ADL is a categorical scale that assesses the impact on daily function of 8 signs or symptoms that are typically affected in gMG. Each item is assessed on a 4-point scale where a score of 0 represents normal function and a score of 3 represents loss of ability to perform that function (total score 0-24). A statistically significant difference favoring Soliris was observed in the mean change from baseline to Week 26 in MG-ADL total scores [-4.2 points in the Soliris-treated group compared with -2.3 points in the placebo-treated group (p=0.006)].

A key secondary endpoint in gMG Study 1 was the change from baseline in the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis (QMG) total score at Week 26. The QMG is a 13-item categorical scale assessing muscle weakness. Each item is assessed on a 4-point scale where a score of 0 represents no weakness and a score of 3 represents severe weakness (total score 0-39). A statistically significant difference favoring Soliris was observed in the mean change from baseline to Week 26 in QMG total scores [-4.6 points in the Soliris-treated group compared with -1.6 points in the placebo-treated group (p=0.001)].

The results of the analysis of the MG-ADL and QMG from gMG Study 1 are shown in Table 21.

In gMG Study 1, a clinical response was defined in the MG-ADL total score as at least a 3-point improvement and in QMG total score as at least a 5-point improvement. The proportion of clinical responders at Week 26 with no rescue therapy was statistically significantly higher for Soliris compared to placebo for both measures. For both endpoints, and also at higher response thresholds (≥4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, or 8-point improvement on MG-ADL, and ≥6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, or 10-point improvement on QMG), the proportion of clinical responders was consistently greater for Soliris compared to placebo. Available data suggest that clinical response is usually achieved by 12 weeks of Soliris treatment.

The efficacy of Soliris for the treatment of NMOSD was established in NMOSD Study 1 (NCT01892345), a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that enrolled 143 patients with NMOSD who were anti-AQP4 antibody positive and met the following criteria at screening:

A total of 96 patients were randomized to receive Soliris treatment and 47 were randomized to receive placebo.

The baseline demographic and disease characteristics were balanced between treatment groups. During the treatment phase of the trial, 76% percent of patients received concomitant IST, including chronic corticosteroids; 24% of patients did not receive concomitant IST or chronic corticosteroids during the treatment phase of the trial.

The primary endpoint for NMOSD Study 1 was the time to the first adjudicated on-trial relapse. The time to the first adjudicated on-trial relapse was significantly longer in Soliris-treated patients compared to placebo-treated patients (relative risk reduction 94%; hazard ratio 0.058; p < 0.0001) (Figure 1).

Note: Patients who did not experience an adjudicated on-trial relapse were censored at the end of the study period. Abbreviations: CI = confidence interval

Soliris-treated patients experienced similar improvement in time to first adjudicated on-trial relapse with or without concomitant treatment. Soliris-treated patients had a 96% relative reduction in the adjudicated on-trial annualized relapse rate (ARR) compared to patients on placebo, as shown in Table 22.

Compared to placebo-treated patients, Soliris-treated patients had reduced annualized rates of hospitalizations (0.04 for Soliris versus 0.31 for placebo), of corticosteroid administrations to treat acute relapses (0.07 for Soliris versus 0.42 for placebo), and of plasma exchange treatments (0.02 for Soliris versus 0.19 for placebo).