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This Medical Industry Feature titled “Prepping Patients for Colonoscopies: What to Know About a Bowel Prep", is sponsored by Salix Pharmaceuticals.
Please stay tuned for important safety information at the end of this episode and see full prescribing information at plenvuhcp.com.
All of Dr. Katie Farah comments are based on her personal clinical experience and expert opinion. Dr Katie Farah received payment from Salix Pharmaceuticals for her testimony.
Dr. Farah:
Hello, my name is Doctor Katie Farah. I am Chief Medical Officer at Wexford Hospital at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Associate Professor of Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine.
As a therapeutic gastroenterologist who has performed numerous colonoscopies over the past 15 years, I recognize the importance of choosing the right bowel prep for each patient.
Often, when speaking with patients prior to their procedure, they have concerns about prepping for a colonoscopy based on experiences or stories they have heard from family or friends. It’s important to consider bowel prep tolerability and dosing to help these patients so they can have successful colonoscopies.
Announcer:
Do you prescribe PLENVU® for your patients?
Dr. Farah:
Yes, I prescribe PLENVU® for my patients. Its efficacy, flexible dosing, and tolerability are important factors when choosing a prep for my patients’ colonoscopies.
Announcer:
INDICATION
PLENVU® is an osmotic laxative indicated for cleansing of the colon in preparation for colonoscopy in adults.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
- PLENVU® is contraindicated in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) obstruction, bowel perforation, gastric retention, ileus, toxic megacolon, and hypersensitivity to any of its ingredients.
Why do you prescribe PLENVU® for your patients?
Dr. Farah:
Consistent results are important to me when identifying an appropriate bowel prep. PLENVU® has provided consistent results for me and my patients. What drove us to implement PLENVU® into our practice was the feedback we heard from our patients. Specifically, there were issues related to lack of understanding how to take the prep, as well as completion of prep. Knowing many patients may have a tendency to neglect the prep process, it’s really important to find an appropriate option for each patient. Once we began prescribing PLENVU®, we first made sure to get the staff up to speed so they were fully educated and able to explain dosing and instructions to patients and the reasoning as to why it would be an appropriate prep for them.
After implementing PLENVU®, my staff and I not only saw the difference in the quality of patients’ procedures, but also how receptive patients were to the product. They especially liked that it included two different flavors: mango for Dose 1 and fruit punch for Dose 2. It’s important to regularly ask patients how they feel following their prep experiences. From our perspective, getting patient feedback is just as important as the results of the prep itself. Additionally, the split and same-day dosing options PLENVU® offers has allowed us to have more flexibility in scheduling procedures.
Announcer:
What should patients expect when taking PLENVU®?
Dr. Farah:
PLENVU® offers patients a bowel prep carefully formulated for success. I’m always sure to tell my patients that it’s a low-volume one-liter prep with 2 distinct flavors, one for each dose, and that PLENVU® is the only bowel prep that offers the option of both 2-day split dosing AND same-day morning-of colonoscopy dosing depending on when their procedures are scheduled.
Announcer:
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
- Advise patients to hydrate adequately before, during, and after the use of PLENVU®. It is encouraged that patients drink additional clear liquids to help avoid cases of fluid and electrolyte abnormalities. Fluid and electrolyte disturbances can lead to serious adverse events including cardiac arrhythmias, seizures, and renal impairment.
Does PLENVU® offer additional support for patients?
Dr. Farah:
PLENVU® has very good resources for patients. It is certainly a strength that benefits patients. There are educational tools such as dosing instruction sheets to guide patients on how to take PLENVU®, a savings program to help eligible commercially insured and Medicare Part D patients save on their prescriptions, and other resources for our staff. These, along with the product itself, have definitely helped my patients with their overall bowel prep experiences.
Announcer:
INDICATION
PLENVU® (polyethylene glycol 3350, sodium ascorbate, sodium sulfate, ascorbic acid, sodium chloride and potassium chloride for oral solution) is an osmotic laxative indicated for cleansing of the colon in preparation for colonoscopy in adults.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
- PLENVU® is contraindicated in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) obstruction, bowel perforation, gastric retention, ileus, toxic megacolon, and hypersensitivity to any of its ingredients.
- Advise patients to hydrate adequately before, during, and after the use of PLENVU®. It is encouraged that patients drink additional clear liquids to help avoid cases of fluid and electrolyte abnormalities. Fluid and electrolyte disturbances can lead to serious adverse events including cardiac arrhythmias, seizures, and renal impairment.
- There have been rare reports of serious arrhythmias associated with the use of ionic osmotic laxative products for bowel preparation. These occur predominantly in patients with underlying cardiac risk factors and electrolyte disturbances. Consider obtaining ECGs in patients at an increased risk of serious cardiac arrhythmias.
- Use PLENVU® with caution in patients with a history of seizures and those at an increased risk of seizures, including patients taking medications that lower the seizure threshold, patients withdrawing from alcohol or benzodiazepines, or patients with hyponatremia.
- Use PLENVU® with caution in patients with renal impairment or those taking concomitant medications that affect renal function. Advise these patients to adequately hydrate before, during, and after the use of PLENVU® and consider performing laboratory tests in these patients.
- Do not administer PLENVU® to patients with GI obstruction or perforation. If GI obstruction or perforation is suspected, perform appropriate diagnostic studies prior to administering PLENVU®.
- Use caution in patients with severe ulcerative colitis.
- Patients with impaired gag reflex or those prone to regurgitation or aspiration should be observed during the administration of PLENVU®. Use with caution in these patients. Do not combine PLENVU® with starch-based thickeners.
- Use PLENVU® with caution in patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency.
- Phenylalanine can be harmful to patients with phenylketonuria (PKU). PLENVU® contains phenylalanine, a component of aspartame. Each PLENVU® treatment contains 491 mg of phenylalanine.
- PLENVU® contains polyethylene glycol and may cause serious hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis, angioedema, rash, urticaria, and pruritus. Inform patients of the signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis and instruct them to seek immediate medical care should signs and symptoms occur.
- In clinical trials, the most common adverse reactions (>2% of patients taking PLENVU®) were nausea, vomiting, dehydration, and abdominal pain/discomfort. Adverse reactions were similar between the two dosing regimens.
To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Salix Pharmaceuticals at 1-800-321-4576 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.
Please see full prescribing information at plenvuhcp.com.
This program was sponsored by Salix. If you missed any part of this discussion, visit ReachMD.com/IndustryFeature. This is ReachMD. Be part of the knowledge.
