In this article, we will look at the Beovu-associated endophthalmitis and Beovu-associated retinal detachment aspects of the Beovu eye drug safety issue of vision loss. New warnings for these vision-related side effects were added in June 2020 when Novartis revised the Prescribing Information for Beovu.
In the Beovu drug label, or “Full Prescribing Information (Revised: 6/2020)” document, in the Warnings and Precautions section, one will now see a slightly revised section 5.1 Endophthalmitis and Retinal Detachment.
As the retinal detachment is a more easily understood medical condition, we will take a closer look at the Beovu-associated endophthalmitis side effect part of the Beovu eye drug safety issue of vision loss in this article.
For some information about Beovu-associated endophthalmitis we turn to an article published in August 2020 by the American Journal of Ophthalmology, ominously titled “Is This a 737 Max Moment for Brolucizumab?”:
[S]oon after the widespread community adoption of [Beovu (brolucizumab)], sporadic reports began to surface that patients were experiencing severe sterile inflammation that could be difficult to distinguish from infectious endophthalmitis. Although cases of severe sterile noninfectious intraocular inflammation have been reported following the injection of other anti-VEGF drugs, this [Beovu (brolucizumab)]-associated inflammation was unusual because it was associated with an occlusive vasculitis and irreversible severe vision loss, albeit rare. This unpredictable severe inflammation could develop weeks after the last [Beovu (brolucizumab)] injection even if previous injections of [Beovu (brolucizumab)] were well tolerated, so previous [Beovu (brolucizumab)] injections without inflammation were no guarantee that subsequent injections would be safe.
We are currently investigating drug injury lawsuits against Novartis for Beovu causing vision loss and blindness which involve Beovu-associated endophthalmitis.
And, of course, we continue to watch for any information released by Novartis about the findings of their panel of experts who are considering this Beovu eye drug safety issue of vision loss.
[Read article in full at original source]