Reader response: Rare side effects of alemtuzumab remind us of the need for postmarketing surveillance

We read with interest the range of cases highlighting rare side effects of the monoclonal antibody alemtuzumab.¹ We reported a case involving a 51-year-old woman who presented with breathlessness 1 month postinitiation of alemtuzumab therapy for treatment of multiple sclerosis.² Results of imaging, lung function testing, and bronchoscopy were consistent with a noninfectious pneumonitis. She had complete clinical and radiologic response to treatment with oral steroids. The time course of her symptoms, their subsequent resolution, and the lack of alternative precipitant made alemtuzumab the likely causative agent. It was, therefore, prudent not to repeat the course of alemtuzumab and, instead, adopt an alternative disease-modifying therapy.

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