Safety profile of entrectinib in NSCLC: Multi-source pharmacovigilance analysis using FAERS and JADER
Abstract
Background Entrectinib is effective for ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but its postmarketing safety profile remains incompletely characterized outside clinical trials. We conducted a dual-database pharmacovigilance study to characterize real-world reporting patterns, identify cross-database replicated adverse event signals, explore age- and sex-related reporting heterogeneity, and evaluate time-to-onset patterns. Methods Reports were retrieved from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS; 2020Q1–2025Q4; 520 patients; 1,573 preferred-term [PT] events) and the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database (JADER; 2020Q1–2025Q3; 254 patients; 393 PT events). Molecular fusion status was not available for verification. Four disproportionality methods were applied, with reporting odds ratio (ROR) as the primary signal criterion. Results At the system organ class level, shared positive signals involved nervous system disorders (FAERS/JADER ROR: 4.48/4.76), cardiac disorders (3.20/5.43), and renal and urinary disorders (2.04/3.92). At the PT level, 23 signals were detected in both databases, whereas 58 PTs were unique to FAERS and 8 to JADER. Representative shared PT signals included dizziness (12.94/14.33), taste disorder (38.03/13.28), renal impairment (6.89/8.18), blood creatinine increased (8.31/24.99), cardiac failure (7.57/8.90), cognitive disorder (18.04/78.29), ataxia (51.73/351.45), syncope (8.87/89.45), myocarditis (3.47/5.91), electrocardiogram QT prolonged (4.01/5.35), and hyperuricaemia (7.36/59.63). Subgroup analyses suggested exploratory age- and sex-related reporting heterogeneity, including relatively more renal and mobility-related reports in older patients and female predominance for ataxia in FAERS. In the FAERS-based time-to-onset analysis, 203 of 520 reports (39.0%) had valid onset data. The median time to onset was 13 days, 70.94% of evaluable reports had onset dates within 30 days, and Weibull analysis suggested an early-failure pattern. Conclusions Entrectinib-associated reports in NSCLC showed reproducible neurologic, cardiac, renal, and laboratory-related disproportional reporting signals across FAERS and JADER. These findings may help prioritize early safety monitoring but should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating signals rather than evidence of incidence or causality.