Terconazole

TERAZOL® 7 (terconazole) Vaginal Cream 0.4%, TERAZOL® 3 (terconazole) Vaginal Cream 0.8% and TERAZOL® 3 (terconazole) Vaginal Suppositories 80 mg are indicated for the local treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis (moniliasis). As these products are effective only for vulvovaginitis caused by the genus Candida, the diagnosis should be confirmed by KOH smears and/or cultures.

TERAZOL® 7 (terconazole) Vaginal Cream 0.4%

One full applicator (5 g) of TERAZOL® 7 Vaginal Cream (20 mg terconazole) should be administered intravaginally once daily at bedtime for seven consecutive days.

TERAZOL® 3 (terconazole) Vaginal Cream 0.8%

One full applicator (5 g) of TERAZOL® 3 Vaginal Cream (40 mg terconazole) should be administered intravaginally once daily at bedtime for three consecutive days.

TERAZOL® 3 (terconazole) Vaginal Suppositories 80 mg

One TERAZOL® 3 Vaginal Suppository (80 mg terconazole) should be administered intravaginally once daily at bedtime for three consecutive days.

Before prescribing another course of therapy, the diagnosis should be reconfirmed by smears and/or cultures and other pathogens commonly associated with vulvovaginitis ruled out. The therapeutic effect of these products is not affected by menstruation.

Patients known to be hypersensitive to terconazole or to any of the components of the cream or suppositories.

WARNINGS

Anaphylaxis and toxic epidermal necrolysis have been reported during terconazole therapy. TERAZOL® therapy should be discontinued if anaphylaxis or toxic epidermal necrolysis develops.

PRECAUTIONS

General

Discontinue use and do not retreat with terconazole if sensitization, irritation, fever, chills or flu-like symptoms are reported during use.

The base contained in the suppository formulation may interact with certain rubber or latex products, such as those used in vaginal contraceptive diaphragms; therefore concurrent use is not recommended.

Laboratory Tests

If there is lack of response to terconazole, appropriate microbiologic studies (standard KOH smear and/or cultures) should be repeated to confirm the diagnosis and rule out other pathogens.

Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility

Carcinogenesis

Studies to determine the carcinogenic potential of terconazole have not been performed.

Mutagenicity

Terconazole was not mutagenic when tested in vitro for induction of microbial point mutations (Ames test), or for inducing cellular transformation, or in vivo for chromosome breaks (micronucleus test) or dominant lethal mutations in mouse germ cells.

Impairment of Fertility

No impairment of fertility occurred when female rats were administered terconazole orally up to 40 mg/kg/day for a three month period.

Pregnancy

Teratogenic Effects

Pregnancy Category C

There was no evidence of teratogenicity when terconazole was administered orally up to 40 mg/kg/day (25x the recommended intravaginal human dose of the suppository formulation, 50x the recommended intravaginal human dose of the 0.8% vaginal cream formulation, and 100x the intravaginal human dose of the 0.4% vaginal cream formulation) in rats, or 20 mg/kg/day in rabbits, or subcutaneously up to 20 mg/kg/day in rats.

Dosages at or below 10 mg/kg/day produced no embryotoxicity; however, there was a delay in fetal ossification at 10 mg/kg/day in rats. There was some evidence of embryotoxicity in rabbits and rats at 20-40 mg/kg. In rats, this was reflected as a decrease in litter size and number of viable young and reduced fetal weight. There was also delay in ossification and an increased incidence of skeletal variants.

The no-effect dose of 10 mg/kg/day resulted in a mean peak plasma level of terconazole in pregnant rats of 0.176 mcg/mL which exceeds by 44 times the mean peak plasma level (0.004 mcg/mL) seen in normal subjects after intravaginal administration of terconazole 0.4% vaginal cream, by 30 times the mean peak plasma level (0.006 mcg/mL) seen in normal subjects after intravaginal administration of terconazole 0.8% vaginal cream, and by 17 times the mean peak plasma level (0.010 mcg/mL) seen in normal subjects after intravaginal administration of terconazole 80 mg vaginal suppository. This safety assessment does not account for possible exposure of the fetus through direct transfer to terconazole from the irritated vagina by diffusion across amniotic membranes.

Since terconazole is absorbed from the human vagina, it should not be used in the first trimester of pregnancy unless the physician considers it essential to the welfare of the patient.

Nursing Mothers

It is not known whether this drug is excreted in human milk. Animal studies have shown that rat offspring exposed via the milk of treated (40 mg/kg/orally) dams showed decreased survival during the first few post-partum days, but overall pup weight and weight gain were comparable to or greater than controls throughout lactation. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk, and because of the potential for adverse reaction in nursing infants from terconazole, a decision should be made whether to discontinue nursing or to discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother.

Pediatric Use

Safety and efficacy in children have not been established.

Geriatric Use

Clinical studies of TERAZOL® did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects. Other reported clinical experience has not identified differences in responses between the elderly and younger patients.

Clinical Trials

TERAZOL® 7 (terconazole) Vaginal Cream 0.4%

During controlled clinical studies conducted in the United States, 521 patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis were treated with terconazole 0.4% vaginal cream. Based on comparative analyses with placebo, the adverse experiences considered most likely related to terconazole 0.4% vaginal cream were headache (26% vs. 17% with placebo) and body pain (2.1% vs. 0% with placebo). Vulvovaginal burning (5.2%), itching (2.3%) or irritation (3.1%) occurred less frequently with terconazole 0.4% vaginal cream than with the vehicle placebo. Fever (1.7% vs. 0.5% with placebo) and chills (0.4% vs. 0.0% with placebo) have also been reported. The therapy-related dropout rate was 1.9%. The adverse drug experience on terconazole most frequently causing discontinuation was vulvovaginal itching (0.6%), which was lower than the incidence for placebo (0.9%).

TERAZOL® 3 (terconazole) Vaginal Cream 0.8%

During controlled clinical studies conducted in the United States, patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis were treated with terconazole 0.8% vaginal cream for three days. Based on comparative analyses with placebo and a standard agent, the adverse experiences considered most likely related to terconazole 0.8% vaginal cream were headache (21% vs. 16% with placebo) and dysmenorrhea (6% vs. 2% with placebo). Genital complaints in general, and burning and itching in particular, occurred less frequently in the terconazole 0.8% vaginal cream 3 day regimen (5% vs. 6%-9% with placebo). Other adverse experiences reported with terconazole 0.8% vaginal cream were abdominal pain (3.4% vs. 1% with placebo) and fever (1% vs. 0.3% with placebo). The therapy-related dropout rate was 2.0% for the terconazole 0.8% vaginal cream. The adverse drug experience most frequently causing discontinuation of therapy was vulvovaginal itching, 0.7% with the terconazole 0.8% vaginal cream group and 0.3% with the placebo group.

TERAZOL® 3 (terconazole) Vaginal Suppositories 80 mg

During controlled clinical studies conducted in the United States, 284 patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis were treated with terconazole 80 mg vaginal suppositories. Based on comparative analyses with placebo (295 patients), the adverse experiences considered adverse reactions most likely related to terconazole 80 mg vaginal suppositories were headache (30.3% vs. 20.7% with placebo) and pain of the female genitalia (4.2% vs. 0.7% with placebo). Adverse reactions that were reported but were not statistically significantly different from placebo were burning (15.2% vs. 11.2% with placebo) and body pain (3.9% vs. 1.7% with placebo). Fever (2.8% vs. 1.4% with placebo) and chills (1.8% vs. 0.7% with placebo) have also been reported. The therapy-related dropout rate was 3.5% and the placebo therapy-related dropout rate was 2.7%. The adverse drug experience on terconazole most frequently causing discontinuation was burning (2.5% vs. 1.4% with placebo) and pruritus (1.8% vs. 1.4% with placebo).

Post-marketing Experience

The following adverse drug reactions have been first identified during post-marketing experience with TERAZOL®. 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 drug exposure.

General: Asthenia, Influenza-Like Illness consisting of multiple listed reactions including fever and chills, nausea, vomiting, myalgia, arthralgia, malaise

Immune: Hypersensitivity, Anaphylaxis, Face Edema

Nervous: Dizziness

Respiratory: Bronchospasm

Skin: Rash, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, Urticaria

Overdose of terconazole in humans has not been reported to date. In the rat, the oral LD 50 values were found to be 1741 and 849 mg/kg for the male and female, respectively. The oral LD 50 values for the male and female dog were @ 1280 and ≥ 640 mg/kg, respectively.