Argatroban is intended for intravenous administration. All parenteral anticoagulants should be discontinued before administration of Argatroban.

Hemorrhage: Hemorrhage can occur at any site in the body in patients receiving Argatroban. An unexplained fall in hematocrit, a fall in blood pressure, or any other unexplained symptom should lead to consideration of a hemorrhagic event. Argatroban should be used with extreme caution in disease states and other circumstances in which there is an increased danger of hemorrhage. These include severe hypertension; immediately following lumbar puncture; spinal anesthesia; major surgery, especially involving the brain, spinal cord, or eye; hematologic conditions associated with increased bleeding tendencies such as congenital or acquired bleeding disorders and gastrointestinal lesions such as ulcerations.

Hepatic Impairment: Caution should be exercised when administering Argatroban to patients with hepatic impairment by starting with a lower dose and carefully titrating until the desired level of anticoagulation is achieved. Achievement of steady state aPTT levels may take longer and require more Argatroban dose adjustments in patients with hepatic impairment compared to patients with normal hepatic function (see PRECAUTIONS, Pediatric Use). Also, upon cessation of Argatroban infusion in the hepatically impaired patient, full reversal of anticoagulant effects may require longer than 4 hours due to decreased clearance and increased elimination half-life of Argatroban (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION). Use of high doses of Argatroban in PCI patients with clinically significant hepatic disease or AST/ALT levels ≥ 3 times the upper limit of normal should be avoided. Such patients were not studied in PCI trials.

Laboratory Tests: Anticoagulation effects associated with Argatroban infusion at doses up to 40 mcg/kg/min correlate with increases of the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT).

Although other global clot-based tests including prothrombin time (PT), the International Normalized Ratio (INR), and thrombin time (TT) are affected by Argatroban, the therapeutic ranges for these tests have not been identified for Argatroban therapy. Plasma Argatroban concentrations also correlate well with anticoagulant effects (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY).

In clinical trials in PCI, the activated clotting time (ACT) was used for monitoring Argatroban anticoagulant activity during the procedure.

The concomitant use of Argatroban and warfarin results in prolongation of the PT and INR beyond that produced by warfarin alone. Alternative approaches for monitoring concurrent Argatroban and warfarin therapy are described in a subsequent section (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).

Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility: No long-term studies in animals have been performed to evaluate the carcinogenic potential of Argatroban. Argatroban was not genotoxic in the Ames test, the Chinese hamster ovary cell (CHO/HGPRT) forward mutation test, the Chinese hamster lung fibroblast chromosome aberration test, the rat hepatocyte, and WI-38 human fetal lung cell unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) tests, or the mouse micronucleus test.

Argatroban at intravenous doses up to 27 mg/kg/day (0.3 times the recommended maximum human dose based on body surface area) was found to have no effect on fertility and reproductive performance of male and female rats.

Pregnancy: Teratogenic Effects: Pregnancy Category B. Teratology studies have been performed in rats with intravenous doses up to 27 mg/kg/day (0.3 times the recommended maximum human dose based on body surface area) and rabbits at intravenous doses up to 10.8 mg/kg/day (0.2 times the recommended maximum human dose based on body surface area) and have revealed no evidence of impaired fertility or harm to the fetus due to Argatroban. There are, however, no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, this drug should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.

Nursing Mothers: Experiments in rats show that Argatroban is detected in milk. It is not known whether this drug is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk and because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants from Argatroban, a decision should be made whether to discontinue nursing or to discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother.

Geriatric Use: In the clinical studies of adult patients with HIT or HITTS, the effectiveness of Argatroban was not affected by age.

Pediatric Use: The safety and effectiveness of Argatroban, including the appropriate anticoagulation goals and duration of therapy, have not been established among pediatric patients. Argatroban was studied among 18 seriously ill pediatric patients who required an alternative to heparin anticoagulation. Most patients were diagnosed with HIT or suspected HIT. Age ranges of patients were < 6 months, n = 8; six months to < 8 years, n = 6; 8 to 16 years, n = 4. All patients had serious underlying conditions and were receiving multiple concomitant medications. Thirteen patients received Argatroban solely as a continuous infusion (no bolus dose). Dosing was initiated in the majority of these 13 patients at 1 mcg/kg/min. Dosing was titrated as needed to achieve and maintain an aPTT of 1.5 to 3 times the baseline value. Most patients required multiple dose adjustments to maintain anticoagulation parameters within the desired range. During the 30-day study period, thrombotic events occurred during Argatroban administration to two patients and following Argatroban discontinuation in three other patients. Major bleeding occurred among two patients; one patient experienced an intracranial hemorrhage after 4 days of Argatroban therapy in the setting of sepsis and thrombocytopenia. Another patient completed 14 days of Argatroban treatment in the study, but experienced an intracranial hemorrhage while receiving Argatroban following completion of the study treatment period.

When Argatroban is used among seriously ill pediatric patients with HIT/HITTS who require an alternative to heparin and who have normal hepatic function, initiate a continuous infusion of Argatroban at a dose of 0.75 mcg/kg/min. Initiate the infusion at a dose of 0.2 mcg/kg/min among seriously ill pediatric patients with impaired hepatic function (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Pharmacokinetics). Check the aPTT two hours after the initiation of the Argatroban infusion and adjust the dose to achieve the target aPTT. These dose recommendations are based upon a goal of aPTT prolongation of 1.5 to 3 times the baseline value and avoidance of an aPTT > 100 seconds. Increments of 0.1 to 0.25 mcg/kg/min for pediatric patients with normal hepatic function and increments of 0.05 mcg/kg/min or lower for pediatric patients with impaired hepatic function may be considered but dose selection must take into account multiple factors including the current Argatroban dose, the current aPTT, target aPTT, and the clinical status of the patient. These dose recommendations are based upon a goal of aPTT prolongation of 1.5 to 3 times the baseline value and avoidance of an aPTT > 100 seconds.

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