Benlysta (belimumab) and risk of serious depression and/or suicidal ideation or behaviour or self-injury

GlaxoSmithKline would like to inform healthcare professionals about the risk of serious depression and/or suicidal ideation or behaviour or self-injury associated with Benlysta (belimumab). An imbalance in selected serious psychiatric events was reported in a recent one-year, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled post-marketing study of 4,003 subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus. The Benlysta package insert will be updated to include safety information on this risk. Healthcare professionals are advised to consider if patients are at risk before treatment with Benlysta, and to continue monitoring of their patients during treatment. Please refer to the letter for details.

 
 
Healthcare professional, Therapeutic Products
Published:

Dear Healthcare Professional Letters

12 Dec 2019

Only abstracts of the Dear Healthcare Professional Letters (DHCPL) are provided on this website. Details of the letters can be found on the MOH Alert System, which is accessible via the Health Professionals Portal (HPP). HPP is a one-stop portal for all healthcare professionals in Singapore. Dentists, medical doctors and pharmacists may access HPP at https://www.moh.gov.sg/hpp/, and follow the procedures below to access the MOH Alert system.

Step 1: On the top navigation ribbon of webpage, select 'For Healthcare Professionals' followed by 'Health Professionals Portal' and click on the choice of profession. User will be redirected to the specific HPP webpage for the selected profession.

Step 2: Click on the Restricted Content icon on the left panel of webpage and login via SingPass.

Step 3: Click on the MOH Alert icon under ‘Applications’ section

Step 4: Click on the Drug Alert tab to view the DHCPLs.