Drug is convenient alternative for PNH, doc says

Safety

Dr Lee said ravulizumab had a similar safety profile to eculizumab, and both drugs were well tolerated.

Most patients experienced a treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE)—88% in the ravulizumab arm and 86.8% in the eculizumab arm.

The most common TEAEs (in the ravulizumab and eculizumab arms, respectively) were headache (36.0% and 33.1%), nasopharyngitis (8.8% and 14.9%), upper respiratory tract infection (10.4% and 5.8%), and pyrexia (4.8% and 10.7%).

Serious AEs occurred in 8.8% of patients in the ravulizumab arm and 7.4% of those in the eculizumab arm.

Major adverse vascular events occurred in 2 patients in the ravulizumab arm and 1 in the eculizumab arm. There were no meningococcal infections in either arm.

One patient in the eculizumab arm was discontinued from the study and died of lung cancer (which was unrelated to treatment).