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FDA warns against use of CellCept and Myfortic during pregnancy

5/20/2008

WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration has again warned that Roche’s CellCept and Novartis’ Myfortic which are prescribed to organ transplant patients can cause miscarriages and birth defects when used by pregnant women, according to published reports. The drugs are used to suppress the body’s immune system to avoid organ rejection in transplant patients

Last October the agency said it had received reports of miscarriages and infants born with ear and mouth birth defects after their mothers took CellCept. At the time, FDA added a black-box warning to CellCept and Myfortic.

The FDA said most of the reported problems came from mothers who were taking CellCept before their pregnancies were detected. Some of the patients were taking the drug for conditions it was not approved to treat including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

A spokesman for Roche said it has not received any new reports of miscarriages or birth defects since updating the drug’s labeling. The company previously reported 25 miscarriages among 77 women exposed to the drug between 1995 and 2007.

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