Plecanatide
Regulatory sources consulted
Approved indications
- Treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation in adults.
Contraindications
Absolute
- Patients younger than 6 years because of the risk of serious dehydration.
- Known or suspected mechanical gastrointestinal obstruction.
Clinical warnings
- Boxed warning · Boxed warning: contraindicated in children younger than 6 years because of serious dehydration associated with deaths in juvenile mice. Avoid in patients aged 6–17 years; safety and effectiveness have not been established below 18 years. — DailyMed TRULANCE setid fe2895bf-71a6-493a-b0ca-e06b2dfefc82
- Major warning · May cause severe diarrhoea. If it occurs, suspend dosing and rehydrate. — DailyMed TRULANCE setid fe2895bf-71a6-493a-b0ca-e06b2dfefc82
Adverse events
Common (≥1%)
Diarrhoea
Rare but serious
Severe diarrhoea with dehydration
Pregnancy and lactation
Available pregnancy data are insufficient to define a drug-associated risk. Plecanatide and its active metabolite were not measurable in human milk after maternal administration.
Recent literature (PubMed)
Chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) is a common disorder associated with significant impairment in quality of life. This clinical practice guideline, jointly developed by the American Gastroenterological Association and the American College of Gastroenterology, aims to inform clinicians and patients by providing evidence-based practice recommendations for the pharmacological treatment of CIC in adults. The American Gastroenterological Association and the American College of Gastroenterology formed a multidisciplinary guideline panel that conducted systematic reviews of the following agents: fiber, osmotic laxatives (polyethylene glycol, magnesium oxide, lactulose), stimulant laxatives (bisacodyl, sodium picosulfate, senna), secretagogues (lubiprostone, linaclotide, plecanatide), and serotonin type 4 agonist (prucalopride). The panel prioritized clinical questions and outcomes and used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework to assess the certainty of evidence for each intervention. The Evidence to Decision framework was used to develop clinical recommendations based on the balance between the desirable and undesirable effects, patient values, costs, and health equity considerations. The panel agreed on 10 recommendations for the pharmacological management of CIC in adults. Based on available evidence, the panel made strong recommendations for the use of polyethylene glycol, sodium picosulfate, linaclotide, plecanatide, and prucalopride for CIC in adults. Conditional recommendations were made for the use of fiber, lactulose, senna, magnesium oxide, and lubiprostone. This document provides a comprehensive outline of the various over-the-counter and prescription pharmacological agents available for the treatment of CIC. The guidelines are meant to provide a framework for approaching the management of CIC; clinical providers should engage in shared decision making based on patient preferences as well as medication cost and avai
Chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) is a common disorder associated with significant impairment in quality of life. This clinical practice guideline, jointly developed by the American Gastroenterological Association and the American College of Gastroenterology, aims to inform clinicians and patients by providing evidence-based practice recommendations for the pharmacological treatment of CIC in adults. The American Gastroenterological Association and the American College of Gastroenterology formed a multidisciplinary guideline panel that conducted systematic reviews of the following agents: fiber, osmotic laxatives (polyethylene glycol, magnesium oxide, lactulose), stimulant laxatives (bisacodyl, sodium picosulfate, senna), secretagogues (lubiprostone, linaclotide, plecanatide), and serotonin type 4 agonist (prucalopride). The panel prioritized clinical questions and outcomes and used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework to assess the certainty of evidence for each intervention. The Evidence to Decision framework was used to develop clinical recommendations based on the balance between the desirable and undesirable effects, patient values, costs, and health equity considerations. The panel agreed on 10 recommendations for the pharmacological management of CIC in adults. Based on available evidence, the panel made strong recommendations for the use of polyethylene glycol, sodium picosulfate, linaclotide, plecanatide, and prucalopride for CIC in adults. Conditional recommendations were made for the use of fiber, lactulose, senna, magnesium oxide, and lubiprostone. This document provides a comprehensive outline of the various over-the-counter and prescription pharmacological agents available for the treatment of CIC. The guidelines are meant to provide a framework for approaching the management of CIC; clinical providers should engage in shared decision making based on patient preferences as well as medication cost and avai
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder of gut-brain interaction associated with significant disease burden. This American Gastroenterological Association guideline is intended to support practitioners in decisions about the use of medications for the pharmacological management of IBS-C and is an update of a prior technical review and guideline. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework was used to assess evidence and make recommendations. The technical review panel prioritized clinical questions and outcomes according to their importance for clinicians and patients and conducted an evidence review of the following agents: tenapanor, plecanatide, linaclotide, tegaserod, lubiprostone, polyethylene glycol laxatives, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and antispasmodics. The Guideline Panel reviewed the evidence and used the Evidence-to-Decision Framework to develop recommendations. The panel agreed on 9 recommendations for the management of patients with IBS-C. The panel made a strong recommendation for linaclotide (high certainty) and conditional recommendations for tenapanor, plecanatide, tegaserod, and lubiprostone (moderate certainty), polyethylene glycol laxatives, tricyclic antidepressants, and antispasmodics (low certainty). The panel made a conditional recommendation against the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (low certainty).
There has been a substantial increase in studies on functional constipation in children as new therapies are deployed. We aimed to provide an up-to-date, methodologically robust systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy and safety of pharmacological therapies for functional constipation in children. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane library from inception to Feb 5, 2025. We included randomised controlled trials that involved children aged 0 years to younger than 18 years with functional constipation treated with pharmacological interventions compared with placebo, no treatment, or other interventions and with at least a 2-week follow-up period. Studies were excluded if there was no definition of functional constipation, children with organic causes for constipation or previous bowel surgery were included, children with faecal incontinence without the presence of constipation were included, or the aim of treatment was faecal disimpaction rather than maintenance therapy. Pairs of authors independently extracted summary data from published reports and critiqued studies. We assessed risk of bias with the Cochrane tool. Meta-analyses estimated risk ratios (RRs) or mean differences, and 95% CIs. Certainty of evidence was established with GRADE. Our main outcomes were treatment success (as defined by study authors), defecation frequency, and withdrawals due to adverse events. This study was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022368719). Our search identified 4595 articles, of which 59 randomised controlled trials were included, representing 7045 participants with functional constipation. Interventions included polyethylene glycol (n=36 studies), lactulose (n=18), magnesium oxide or magnesium hydroxide (n=7), picosulfate (n=1), liquid paraffin (n=4), prucalopride (n=1), lubiprostone (n=2), linaclotide (n=3), plecanatide (n=1), enemas (n=2), and domperidone (n=1). Meta-analyses for treatment success showed