4.1. Therapeutic indications

Bivalirudin is indicated as an anticoagulant in adult patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), including patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary PCI.

Bivalirudin is also indicated for the treatment of adult patients with unstable angina/non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI) planned for urgent or early intervention.

Bivalirudin should be administered with acetylsalicylic acid and clopidogrel.

4.2. Posology and method of administration

Bivalirudin should be administered by a physician experienced in either acute coronary care or in coronary intervention procedures.

Posology

Patients undergoing PCI, including primary PCI

The recommended dose of bivalirudin for patients undergoing PCI is an intravenous bolus of 0.75 mg/kg body weight followed immediately by an intravenous infusion at a rate of 1.75 mg/kg body weight/hour for at least the duration of the procedure. The infusion of 1.75 mg/kg body weight/hour may be continued for up to 4 hours post-PCI as clinically warranted and further continued at a reduced infusion dose of 0.25 mg/kg/h for 4-12 hours as clinically necessary.

Patients should be carefully monitored following primary PCI for signs and symptoms consistent with myocardial ischaemia.

Patients with unstable angina/non-ST segment elevated myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI)

The recommended starting dose of bivalirudin for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is an intravenous bolus of 0.1 mg/kg followed by an infusion of 0.25 mg/kg/h. Patients who are to be medically managed may continue the infusion of 0.25 mg/kg/h for up to 72 hours.

If the patient proceeds to PCI, an additional bolus of 0.5 mg/kg of bivalirudin should be administered before the procedure and the infusion increased to 1.75 mg/kg/h for the duration of the procedure. Following PCI, the reduced infusion dose of 0.25 mg/kg/h may be resumed for 4 to 12 hours as clinically necessary.

For patients who proceed to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery off pump, the intravenous infusion of bivalirudin should be continued until the time of surgery. Just prior to surgery, a 0.5 mg/kg bolus dose should be administered followed by a 1.75 mg/kg/h intravenous infusion for the duration of the surgery.

For patients who proceed to CABG surgery on pump, the intravenous infusion of bivalirudin should be continued until 1 hour prior to surgery after which the infusion should be discontinued and the patient treated with unfractionated heparin (UFH).

To ensure appropriate administration of bivalirudin, the completely dissolved, reconstituted and diluted product should be thoroughly mixed prior to administration (see section 6.6). The bolus dose should be administered by a rapid intravenous push to ensure that the entire bolus reaches the patient before the start of the procedure.

Intravenous infusion lines should be primed with bivalirudin to ensure continuity of drug infusion after delivery of the bolus.

The infusion dose should be initiated immediately after the bolus dose is administered, ensuring delivery to the patient prior to the procedure, and continued uninterrupted for the duration of the procedure. The safety and efficacy of a bolus dose of bivalirudin without the subsequent infusion has not been evaluated and is not recommended even if a short PCI procedure is planned.

An increase in the activated clotting time (ACT) may be used as an indication that a patient has received bivalirudin.

ACT values 5 minutes after bivalirudin bolus average 365 +/- 100 seconds. If the 5-minute ACT is less than 225 seconds, a second bolus dose of 0.3 mg/kg should be administered.

Once the ACT value is greater than 225 seconds, no further monitoring is required provided the 1.75 mg/kg/h infusion dose is properly administered.

Where insufficient ACT increase is observed, the possibility of medication error should be considered, for example inadequate mixing of Bivalirudin or intravenous equipment failures.

The arterial sheath can be removed 2 hours after discontinuation of the bivalirudin infusion without anticoagulation monitoring.

Use with other anticoagulant therapy

In STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI, standard pre-hospital adjunctive therapy should include clopidogrel and may include the early administration of UFH (See section 5.1).

Patients can be started on Bivalirudin 30 minutes after discontinuation of unfractionated heparin given intravenously, or 8 hours after discontinuation of low molecular weight heparin given subcutaneously.

Bivalirudin can be used in conjunction with a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. Refer to section 5.1 for further information regarding the use of bivalirudin with or without a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor.

Renal insufficiency

Bivalirudin is contraindicated in patients with severe renal insufficiency (GFR<30 ml/min) and also in dialysis-dependent patients (see section 4.3).

In patients with mild or moderate renal insufficiency, the ACS dose (0.1 mg/kg bolus/0.25 mg/kg/h infusion) should not be adjusted.

Patients with moderate renal impairment (GFR 30-59 ml/min) undergoing PCI (whether being treated with bivalirudin for ACS or not) should receive a lower infusion rate of 1.4 mg/kg/h. The bolus dose should not be changed from the posology described under ACS or PCI above.

Patients with renal impairment should be carefully monitored for clinical signs of bleeding during PCI, as clearance of bivalirudin is reduced in these patients (see section 5.2)

If the 5 minutes ACT is less than 225 seconds, a second bolus dose of 0.3 mg/kg should be administered and the ACT re-checked 5 minutes after the administration of the second bolus dose.

Where insufficient ACT increase is observed, the possibility of medication error should be considered, for example inadequate mixing of Bivalirudin or intravenous equipment failures.

Hepatic impairment

No dose adjustment is needed. Pharmacokinetic studies indicate that hepatic metabolism of bivalirudin is limited, therefore the safety and efficacy of bivalirudin have not been specifically studied in patients with hepatic impairment.

Elderly population

Increased awareness due to high bleeding risk should be exercised in the elderly because of age-related decrease in renal function. Dose adjustments for this age group should be on the basis of renal function.

Paediatric patients

There is no relevant indication for use of Bivalirudin in children less than 18 years old in all indications.

Method of administration

Bivalirudin is intended for intravenous use.

Bivalirudin should be initially reconstituted to give a solution of 50 mg/ml bivalirudin. Reconstituted material should then be further diluted in a total volume of 50 ml to give a solution of 5 mg/ml bivalirudin.

Reconstituted and diluted product should be thoroughly mixed prior to administration.

For instructions on reconstitution and dilution of the medicinal product before administration, see section 6.6.

The reconstituted/diluted solution will be a clear to slightly opalescent, colourless to slightly yellow solution.

4.3. Contraindications

Bivalirudin is contraindicated in patients with:

• a known hypersensitivity to the active substance or to any of the excipients listed in section 6.1, or to hirudins

• active bleeding or increased risk of bleeding because of haemostasis disorders and/or irreversible coagulation disorders

• severe uncontrolled hypertension

• subacute bacterial endocarditis

• severe renal impairment (GFR<30 ml/min) and in dialysis-dependent patients

4.4. Special warnings and precautions for use

Bivalirudin is not intended for intramuscular use. Do not administer intramuscularly.

Haemorrhage

Patients must be observed carefully for symptoms and signs of bleeding during treatment particularly if bivalirudin is combined with another anticoagulant (see section 4.5). Although most bleeding associated with bivalirudin occurs at the site of arterial puncture in patients undergoing PCI, haemorrhage can occur at any site during therapy. Unexplained decreases in haematocrit, haemoglobin or blood pressure may indicate haemorrhage. Treatment should be stopped if bleeding is observed or suspected.

There is no known antidote to bivalirudin but its effect wears off quickly (T½ is 35 to 40 minutes).

Co-administration with platelet inhibitors or anti-coagulants

Combined use of anti-coagulant medicinal products can be expected to increase the risk of bleeding (see section 4.5). When bivalirudin is combined with a platelet inhibitor or an anti-coagulant medicine, clinical and biological parameters of haemostasis should be regularly monitored.

In patients taking warfarin who are treated with bivalirudin, International Normalised Ratio (INR) monitoring should be considered to ensure that it returns to pre-treatment levels following discontinuation of bivalirudin treatment.

Hypersensitivity

Allergic type hypersensitivity reactions were reported uncommonly (≥1/1,000 to ≤1/100) in clinical trials. Necessary preparations should be made to deal with this. Patients should be informed of the early signs of hypersensitivity reactions including hives, generalised urticaria, tightness of chest, wheezing, hypotension and anaphylaxis. In the case of shock, the current medical standards for shock treatment should be applied. Anaphylaxis, including anaphylactic shock with fatal outcome has been reported very rarely (≤1/10,000) in post-marketing experience (see section 4.8).

Treatment-emergent positive bivalirudin antibodies are rare and have not been associated with clinical evidence of allergic or anaphylactic reactions. Caution should be exercised in patients previously treated with lepirudin who had developed lepirudin antibodies.

Acute stent thrombosis

Acute stent thrombosis (<24 hours) has been observed in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI and has been managed by Target Vessel Revascularisation (TVR) (see sections 4.8 and 5.1). Patients should remain for at least 24 hours in a facility capable of managing ischaemic complications and should be carefully monitored following primary PCI for signs and symptoms consistent with myocardial ischaemia.

Brachytherapy

Intra-procedural thrombus formation has been observed during gamma brachytherapy procedures with Bivalirudin.

Bivalirudin should be used with caution during beta brachytherapy procedures.

Excipient

Bivalirudin contains less than 1 mmol sodium (23 mg) per vial, i.e. essentially “sodium-free”.

4.5. Interaction with other medicinal products and other forms of interaction

Interaction studies have been conducted with platelet inhibitors, including acetylsalicylic acid, ticlopidine, clopidogrel, abciximab, eptifibatide, or tirofiban. The results do not suggest pharmacodynamic interactions with these medicinal products.

From the knowledge of their mechanism of action, combined use of anti-coagulant medicinal products (heparin, warfarin, thrombolytics or antiplatelet agents) can be expected to increase the risk of bleeding.

In any case, when bivalirudin is combined with a platelet inhibitor or an anticoagulant, clinical and biological parameters of haemostasis should be regularly monitored.

4.6. Fertility, pregnancy and lactation

Pregnancy

There are no or limited data from the use of bivalirudin in pregnant women. Animal studies are insufficient with respect to effects on pregnancy, embryonal/foetal development, parturition or post-natal development (see section 5.3).

Bivalirudin should not be used during pregnancy unless the clinical condition of the woman requires treatment with bivalirudin.

Breastfeeding

It is unknown whether bivalirudin is excreted in human milk. Bivalirudin should be administered with caution in breast-feeding mothers.

4.7. Effects on ability to drive and use machines

Bivalirudin has no or negligible influence on the ability to drive and use machines.

4.8. Undesirable effects

Summary of the safety profile

• The most frequent serious and fatal adverse reactions are major haemorrhage (access site and non access-site bleeding, including intracranial haemorrhage) and hypersensitivity, including anaphylactic shock. Coronary artery thrombosis and coronary stent thrombosis with myocardial infarction, and catheter thrombosis have each been reported rarely. Administration errors may lead to fatal thrombosis.

• In patients receiving warfarin, INR is increased by administration of bivalirudin.

Tabulated list of adverse reactions

Adverse reactions for bivalirudin from HORIZONS, ACUITY, REPLACE-2 trials and post-marketing experience are listed by system organ class in Table 1.

Table 1. Adverse reactions for bivalirudin from HORIZONS, ACUITY, REPLACE-2 trials and post-marketing experience

System organ class

Very common

(≥1/10)

Common

(≥1/100 to <1/10)

Uncommon

(≥1/1,000 to <1/100)

Rare

(≥1/10,000 to <1/1,000)

Very rare

(<1/10,000)

Blood and lymphatic system disorders

Haemoglobin decreased

Thrombocytopenia

Anaemia

INR increasedd

Immune system disorders

Hypersensitivity, including anaphylactic reaction and shock, including reports with fatal outcome

Nervous system disorders

Headache

Intracranial haemorrhage

Eye disorders

Intraocular haemorrhage

Ear and labyrinth disorders

Ear haemorrhage

Cardiac disorders

Myocardial infarction,

Cardiac tamponade,

Pericardial haemorrhage,

Coronary artery thrombosis,

Angina pectoris.

Bradycardia,

Ventricular tachycardia

Chest pain

Vascular disorders

Minor haemorrhage at any site

Major haemorrhage at any site including reports with fatal outcome

Haematoma,

Hypotension

Coronary stent

Thrombosis including reports with fatal outcomec

Thrombosis including reports with fatal outcome,

Arteriovenous fistula,

Catheter thrombosis,

Vascular pseudoaneurysm

Compartment syndrome a, b

Respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders

Epistaxis,

Haemoptysis,

Pharyngeal haemorrhage

Pulmonary haemorrhage

Dyspnoeaa

Gastrointestinal disorders

Gastrointestinal haemorrhage (including haematemesis, malaena, oesophageal haemorrhage, anal haemorrhage),

Retroperitoneal haemorrhage,

Gingival haemorrhage,

Nausea

Peritoneal haemorrhage,

Retroperitoneal haematoma,

Vomiting

Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders

Ecchymosis

Rash,

Urticaria

Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders

Back pain,

Groin pain

Renal and urinary disorders

Haematuria

General disorders and administration site conditions

Access site haemorrhage,

Vessel puncture site haematoma ≥5 cm,

Vessel puncture site haematoma <5 cm

Injection site reactions (Injection site discomfort, Injection site pain, Puncture site reaction)

Injury, poisoning and procedural complications

Reperfusion injury (no or slow reflow),

Contusion

a. ADRs identified in post-marketing experience

b. Compartment syndrome has been reported as a complication of forearm haematoma following administration of bivalirudin via the radial access route in post-marketing experience

c. Further detail regarding stent thrombosis is provided in section 4.8: The HORIZONS Trial (Patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI). For instructions for monitoring acute stent thrombosis, see section 4.4.

d. Section 4.4 describes precautions for INR monitoring when bivalirudin is co-administered with warfarin.

Description of selected adverse reactions

Haemorrhage

In all clinical studies bleeding data were collected separately from adverse reactions and are summarized in Table 6 together with the bleeding definitions used for each study.

The HORIZONS Trial (Patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI)

Platelets, bleeding and clotting

In the HORIZONS study both major and minor bleeding occurred commonly (≥1/100 and <1/10). The incidence of major and minor bleeding was significantly less in patients treated with bivalirudin versus patients treated with heparin plus a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. The incidence of major bleeding is shown in Table 6. Major bleeding occurred most frequently at the sheath puncture site. The most frequent event was a haematoma <5 cm at puncture site.

In the HORIZONS study, thrombocytopenia was reported in 26 (1. 6%) of bivalirudin-treated patients and in 67 (3.9%) of patients treated with heparin plus a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. All of these bivalirudin-treated patients received concomitant acetylsalicylic acid, all but 1 received clopidogrel and 15 also received a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor.

The ACUITY Trial (Patients with unstable angina/non-ST segment elevated myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI))

The following data are based on a clinical study of bivalirudin in 13,819 patients with ACS; 4,612 were randomised to bivalirudin alone, 4,604 were randomised to bivalirudin plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor and 4,603 were randomised to either unfractionated heparin or enoxaparin plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. Adverse reactions were more frequent in females and in patients more than 65 years of age in both the bivalirudin and the heparin-treated comparator groups compared to male or younger patients.

Approximately 23.3% of patients receiving bivalirudin experienced at least one adverse event and 2.1% experienced an adverse reaction. Adverse event reactions for bivalirudin are listed by system organ class in Table 1.

Platelets, bleeding and clotting

In ACUITY, bleeding data were collected separately from adverse reactions.

Major bleeding was defined as any one of the following: intracranial, retroperitoneal, intraocular, access site haemorrhage requiring radiological or surgical intervention, ≥5 cm diameter haematoma at puncture site, reduction in haemoglobin concentration of ≥4 g/dl without an overt source of bleeding, reduction in haemoglobin concentration of ≥3 g/dl with an overt source of bleeding, re-operation for bleeding or use of any blood product transfusion. Minor bleeding was defined as any observed bleeding event that did not meet the criteria as major. Minor bleeding occurred very commonly (≥1/10) and major bleeding occurred commonly (≥1/100 and <1/10).

Major bleeding rates are shown in Table 6 for the IIT population and Table 7 for the per protocol population (patients receiving clopidogrel and acetylsalicylic acid). Both major and minor bleeds were significantly less frequent with bivalirudin alone than the heparin plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor and bivalirudin plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor groups. Similar reductions in bleeding were observed in patients who were switched to bivalirudin from heparin-based therapies (N = 2,078).

Major bleeding occurred most frequently at the sheath puncture site. Other less frequently observed bleeding sites with greater than 0.1% (uncommon) bleeding included “other” puncture site, retroperitoneal, gastrointestinal, ear, nose or throat.

Thrombocytopenia was reported in 10 bivalirudin-treated patients participating in the ACUITY study (0.1%). The majority of these patients received concomitant acetylsalicylic acid and clopidogrel, and 6 out of the 10 patients also received a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. Mortality among these patients was nil.

The REPLACE-2 Trial (Patients undergoing PCI)

The following data is based on a clinical study of bivalirudin in 6,000 patients undergoing PCI, half of whom were treated with bivalirudin (REPLACE-2). Adverse events were more frequent in females and in patients more than 65 years of age in both the bivalirudin and the heparin-treated comparator groups compared to male or younger patients.

Approximately 30% of patients receiving bivalirudin experienced at least one adverse event and 3% experienced an adverse reaction. Adverse reactions for bivalirudin are listed by system organ class in Table 1.

Platelets, bleeding and clotting

In REPLACE-2, bleeding data were collected separately from adverse events. Major bleeding rates for the intent-to-treat trial population is shown in Table 6.

Major bleeding was defined as the occurrence of any of the following: intracranial haemorrhage, retroperitoneal haemorrhage, blood loss leading to a transfusion of at least two units of whole blood or packed red blood cells, or bleeding resulting in a haemoglobin drop of more than 3 g/dl, or a fall in haemoglobin greater than 4 g/dl (or 12% of haematocrit) with no bleeding site identified. Minor haemorrhage was defined as any observed bleeding event that did not meet the criteria for a major haemorrhage. Minor bleeding occurred very commonly (≥1/10) and major bleeding occurred commonly (≥1/100 and <1/10).

Both minor and major bleeds were significantly less frequent with bivalirudin than the heparin plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor comparator group. Major bleeding occurred most frequently at the sheath puncture site. Other less frequently observed bleeding sites with greater than 0.1% (uncommon) bleeding included “other” puncture site, retroperitoneal, gastrointestinal, ear, nose or throat.

In REPLACE-2 thrombocytopenia occurred in 20 bivalirudin-treated patients (0.7%). The majority of these patients received concomitant acetylsalicylic acid and clopidogrel, and 10 out of 20 patients also received a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. Mortality among these patients was nil.

Acute cardiac events

The HORIZONS Trial (Patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI)

The following data are based on a clinical study of bivalirudin in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI; 1,800 patients were randomised to bivalirudin alone, 1,802 were randomised to heparin plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. Serious adverse reactions were reported more frequently in the heparin plus GP IIb/IIIa group than the bivalirudin treated group.

A total of 55.1% of patients receiving bivalirudin experienced at least one adverse event and 8.7% experienced an adverse drug reaction. Adverse drug reactions for bivalirudin are listed by system organ class in Table 1.The incidence of stent thrombosis within the first 24 hours was 1.5% in patients receiving bivalirudin versus 0.3% in patients receiving UFH plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor (p=0.0002).

Two deaths occurred after acute stent thrombosis, 1 in each arm of the study. The incidence of stent thrombosis between 24 hours and 30 days was 1. 2% in patients receiving bivalirudin versus 1.9% in patients receiving UFH plus GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor (p=0.1553). A total of 17 deaths occurred after subacute stent thrombosis, 3 in the bivalirudin arm and 14 in the UFH plus GP IIb/IIIa arm. There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of stent thrombosis between treatment arms at 30 days (p=0.3257) and 1 year (p=0.7754).

Reporting of suspected adverse reactions

Reporting suspected adverse reactions after authorization of the medicinal product is important. It allows continued monitoring of the benefit/risk balance of the medicinal product. Healthcare professionals are asked to report any suspected adverse reactions via the Yellow Card Scheme at www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard

4.9. Overdose

Cases of overdose of up to 10 times the recommended dose have been reported in clinical trials. Single bolus doses of bivalirudin up to 7.5 mg/kg have also been reported. Bleeding has been observed in some reports of overdose.

In cases of overdose, treatment with bivalirudin should be immediately discontinued and the patient monitored closely for signs of bleeding.

In the event of major bleeding, treatment with bivalirudin should be immediately discontinued. There is no known antidote to bivalirudin, however, bivalirudin is haemo-dialysable.