What are the side effects of Eculizumab?

Eculizumab carries a black box warning about the risk of meningococcal infection and can only be prescribed by a physician who participates in and follows the risk assessment and mitigation strategies required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which includes physicians counseling people taking the drug, providing them with educational materials, and ensuring they receive vaccinations, all of which must be documented. Headache is a very common side effect, occurring in more than 10% of people taking the drug.

The label for eculizumab also carries a warning that destruction of red blood cells can lead to severe anemia and the formation of blood clots in small blood vessels. Eculizumab inhibits terminal complement activation and therefore predisposes people to infection by encapsulated organisms, and patients treated with this drug have developed life-threatening and fatal meningococcal infections. Because of the increased risk of meningococcal infection, it is recommended that meningococcal vaccine be administered at least 2 weeks before treatment, unless the risks of delaying eculizumab treatment outweigh the risk of developing meningococcal infection, in which case meningococcal vaccine should be administered as soon as possible.

The generic drug Eculizumab has been launched in China and is covered by medical insurance. It is only available for reimbursement to eligible patients. The specification is 300mg (30ml) and the price per box may be more than 3,000 yuan. It is understood that the price of each box of the original Eculizumab drug sold overseas is more than 6,000 US dollars (the price may fluctuate due to the exchange rate). The ingredients of the original drug sold at home and abroad are basically the same, and the price of the original drug is still relatively expensive. There are currently no generic versions of eculizumab available on the market.