Toxicities associated with chemotherapy regimens containing a fluoropyrimidine: A real-life evaluation in France.

Aims: Despite fluoropyrimidines (FPs) constituting the main component of the chemotherapy combination protocols in 50% of chemotherapies for solid tumour treatments, incidence data for FP-related toxicity are poorly documented in real life. This study evaluated the number of patients receiving FP-based chemotherapies in France, along with the true incidence of FP-related serious adverse effects (SAEs) before the recent mandatory dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD)-screening was introduced by French health authorities, DPD being the rate-limiting enzyme of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) catabolism.

Methods: Exhaustive data on the number of patients treated with FP-based chemotherapy in 2013-2014 were collected in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France.

Rituximab-induced serum sickness is more frequent in autoimmune diseases as compared to hematological malignancies: A French nationwide study.

Introduction: Rituximab induced serum sickness (RISS) is a rare delayed hypersensitivity reaction. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the RISS cases reported in France.

Method: Serum sickness cases involving rituximab were identified from the French PharmacoVigilance Database from 1998 to 2016.

[Drug observatories to make practices safer].

The main mission of the 26 regional drug observatories, medical and therapeutic innovation structures, is to coordinate the proper use of healthcare products and the fight against avoidable iatrogenesis. The involvement of hospital and private practice healthcare professionals, as well as patients, in these support structures, enables practical tools to be created in order to improve care practices and make them safer.