Pregnancy & Lactation : הריון/הנקה

4.6     Fertility, pregnancy and lactation

Women of childbearing potential
Women of childbearing potential should consider the use of appropriate contraception to avoid becoming pregnant during Erelzi therapy and for three weeks after discontinuation of therapy.

Pregnancy
Developmental toxicity studies performed in rats and rabbits have revealed no evidence of harm to the foetus or neonatal rat due to etanercept. The effects of etanercept on pregnancy outcomes have been investigated in two observational cohort studies. A higher rate of major birth defects was observed in one observational study comparing pregnancies exposed to etanercept (n=370) during the first trimester with pregnancies not exposed to etanercept or other TNF-antagonists (n=164) (adjusted odds ratio 2.4, 95% CI: 1.0-5.5). The types of major birth defects were consistent with those most commonly reported in the general population and no particular pattern of abnormalities was identified. No change in the rate of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, or minor malformations was observed. In another observational multi-country registry study comparing the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women exposed to etanercept during the first 90 days of pregnancy (n=425) to those exposed to non-biologic drugs (n=3497), there was no observed increased risk of major birth defects (crude odds ratio [OR]= 1.22, 95% CI: 0.79-1.90; adjusted OR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.58-1.60 after adjusting for country, maternal disease, parity, maternal age and smoking in early pregnancy). This study also showed no increased risks of minor birth defects, preterm birth, stillbirth, or infections in the first year of life for infants born to women exposed to etanercept during pregnancy. Erelzi should only be used during pregnancy if clearly needed.

Etanercept crosses the placenta and has been detected in the serum of infants born to female patients treated with etanercept during pregnancy. The clinical impact of this is unknown, however, infants may be at increased risk of infection. Administration of live vaccines to infants for 16 weeks after the mother’s last dose of Erelzi is generally not recommended.

Breast-feeding
In lactating rats following subcutaneous administration, etanercept was excreted in the milk and detected in the serum of pups. Limited information from the published literature indicates enteracept has been detected at low levels in human milk.
Enteracept could be considered for use during breast-feeding, taking into account the benefit of breast-feeding for the child and the benefit of therapy for the woman.
While systemic exposure in a breastfed infant is expected to be low because etanercept is largely degraded in the gastrointestinal tract, limited data regarding systemic exposure in the breastfed infant are available. Therefore, the administration of live vaccines (e.g., BCG) to a breastfed infant when the mother is receiving etanercept could be considered 16 weeks after stopping breast-feeding (or at an earlier timepoint if the infant etanercept serum levels are undetectable).

Fertility
Preclinical data about peri- and postnatal toxicity of etanercept and of effects of etanercept on fertility and general reproductive performance are not available.