Programmed Death Receptor-1 Blocking Antibody side effects compared: 4 drugs, 241,537 FDA adverse event reports

Which programmed death receptor-1 blocking antibody has the most FDA adverse event reports?

Pembrolizumab has the most FAERS co-reports in this class (104,591), followed by Nivolumab (96,082). Report volume tracks how widely and how long a drug has been used, and how much attention it has had, far more than its risk.

Which side effects are shared across programmed death receptor-1 blocking antibody drugs?

Reaction terms flagged in at least half of the 4 members include adrenocorticotropic hormone deficiency, immune-mediated lung disease, immune-mediated hepatitis, immune-mediated encephalitis, immune-mediated pneumonitis. A term shared across a class usually reflects the shared mechanism (or the shared patient population) rather than one product.

Does a FAERS signal mean the drug causes the reaction?

No. These are disproportionality signals from voluntary reports with no denominator. Each is screened against the FDA label (known vs unlabeled) on the drug pages; causality needs temporality, dose-response, plausibility and trial or cohort evidence.