Real-world risk of anosmia with cancer directed systemic therapy: A pharmacovigilance assessment using FDA Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) database.

Abstract

e18790 Background: Anosmia is a rare and under-reported adverse event associated with the use of several oncologic drugs. Instances of olfactory disturbances following administration of chemotherapeutic agents have been sporadically documented in case reports and case series. We aimed to conduct a more comprehensive study to generate signal for anosmia as adverse effect of drugs used for oncologic indications. Methods: The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) database, a pharmacovigilance database, was used to extract data. All reported cases of anosmia in the database were filtered for an indication of cancer. Descriptive analysis was conducted using SPSS 26. Results: Total 10250 cases of anosmia were extracted from FAERS database. Out of these, cancer as an indication for medication use was noted in 139 cases. Some of the most common suspect medications exclusively associated with more than one case of anosmia were palbociclib (n=16), enzalutamide (13), pazopanib (8), cabozantinib (8), letrozole (6), leuprolide (5), niraparib (5), rucaparib (4), tamoxifen (4), capecitabine (3), everolimus (3), anastrazole (2), exemestane (2), zoledronic acid (2), vandetanib (2) and vismodegib (2). Detailed description of medications with highest number of reported cases is listed in Table. Median age at diagnosis was 66 years (interquartile range 58-71). Anosmia was reported more commonly in females (64% ) as compared to males (33.8%). Reactions were reported to the FDA more commonly by consumers (56.8%) as compared to healthcare professionals (40.3% cases). Out of 139 patients with anosmia, 93 (66.9%) had concomitant ageusia, 8 (5.7 %) had dysgeusia and 6 (4.3%) patients had neuropathy. Conclusions: This study demonstrates a signal for anosmia as side effect in patients receiving select oncologic medications based on the FAERS database. It is worth noting that none of the suspect medications identified in this study have anosmia listed as known adverse reaction on accompanying package insert. Further studies need to be conducted to confirm if causal relationship exists between use of these drugs and olfactory function compromise. [Table: see text]