SOLIRIS (eculizumab): The first treatment specifically approved for PNH

My name is Margarita.

Margarita

I'm 36 years old — and a mother of 3.
I've had PNH for 18 years.
This is my story.
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Margarita was only seventeen when she stopped feeling like the healthy, active person she'd always been. After being diagnosed with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), she stopped feeling like herself altogether. But there was a solution — and it would help Margarita feel like the vibrant, fun-loving person she had been before.

From the beginning, it was clear that something wasn't right. Margarita was too young to feel so exhausted after almost any activity. She consulted her family doctor — lab tests revealed that her levels of hemoglobin and blood volume were far below normal.

Margarita was given B12, and a whole host of other vitamins, but nothing seemed to help.

'I started getting joint pains, a lot of headaches, back pains, stomach pains. It was so awful.'

Concerned, Margarita's primary care doctor referred her to a hematologist. A blood test confirmed her doctor's fears: Margarita had PNH, a serious disease that causes blood cells to be destroyed by a process called hemolysis.1

Then the blood transfusions started. At first it was only once every five months, but the frequency increased. Soon Margarita was receiving two units of blood almost twice a month — right around the time of her menstrual cycle. Margarita would suffer from migraines and excrutiating pain in her stomach and around her liver. The pain was so bad she often had to be admitted to the emergency room, enduring yet another blood transfusion.

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IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNING: SERIOUS MENINGOCOCCAL INFECTION

SOLIRIS® increases the risk of meningococcal infections.

Patients should be vaccinated with a meningococcal vaccine at least 2 weeks prior to receiving the first dose of SOLIRIS. Revaccinate according to current medical guidelines for vaccine use.

Patients should be monitored closely for early signs of meningococcal infections and evaluated immediately if infection is suspected, and treated with antibiotics if necessary.

The effect of withdrawal of anticoagulant therapy during SOLIRIS treatment has not been established. Therefore, treatment with SOLIRIS should not alter anticoagulant management.

SEE FULL PRESCRIBING INFORMATION FOR COMPLETE BOXED WARNING INCLUDING WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, AND ADVERSE REACTIONS.

The most frequent adverse events observed in clinical studies were headache, nasopharyngitis, back pain, nausea, fatigue, and cough.

Please see important safety information (including boxed warning) as well as the complete prescribing information.