Package Leaflet: Information for the Patient
STELARA 90 mg solution for injection in pre-filled syringe
ustekinumab
Read all of this leaflet carefully before you start using this medicine because it contains important information for you.
This leaflet has been written for the person taking the medicine. If you are the parent or carer of a child who will be taking Stelara, please read this information carefully.
Contents of the pack
What is Stelara
Stelara contains the active substance “ustekinumab”, a monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins that identify and bind to specific proteins in the body.
Stelara belongs to a group of medicines called “immunosuppressants”. These medicines work by weakening part of the immune system.
What is Stelara used for
Stelara is used to treat the following inflammatory diseases:
Plaque psoriasis
Plaque psoriasis is a skin disease that causes inflammation affecting the skin and nails. Stelara reduces inflammation and other signs of the disease.
Stelara is used in adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who cannot use ciclosporin, methotrexate, or phototherapy, or where these treatments do not work.
Stelara is used in children and adolescents aged 6 years and older with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who are unable to tolerate phototherapy or other systemic therapies or when these treatments do not work.
Psoriatic arthritis
Psoriatic arthritis is an inflammatory disease of the joints, usually accompanied by psoriasis. If you have active psoriatic arthritis, you will first receive other medicines. If you do not respond well to these medicines, you may be treated with Stelara to:
Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disease of the intestine. If you have Crohn's disease, you will first be given other medicines. If you do not respond adequately or do not tolerate these medicines, you may be given Stelara to reduce the signs and symptoms of your disease.
Ulcerative colitis
Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory disease of the intestine. If you have ulcerative colitis, you will first be given other medicines. If you do not respond well enough or do not tolerate these medicines, you may be given Stelara to reduce the signs and symptoms of your disease.
Do not use Stelara:
If you are not sure if any of the above applies to you, talk to your doctor or pharmacist before using Stelara.
Warnings and precautions
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting Stelara. Your doctor will check how you are before each treatment. Make sure to tell your doctor about any illness you have before each treatment. Your doctor will also ask if you have recently been near someone who might have tuberculosis. Your doctor will examine you and do a test to detect tuberculosis before you use Stelara. If your doctor thinks you are at risk of tuberculosis, you may be given medicines to treat it.
Watch for serious side effects
Stelara may cause serious side effects, including allergic reactions and infections. You should be aware of certain signs of illness while using Stelara. See the complete list of these side effects in “Serious side effects” in section 4.
Before using Stelara, tell your doctor:
If you are not sure if you have any of these conditions, talk to your doctor or pharmacist before using Stelara.
Children and adolescents
Stelara is not recommended for use in children under 6 years of age with psoriasis or in children under 18 years of age with psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease, or ulcerative colitis, as it has not been studied in this age group.
Using Stelara with other medicines, vaccines
Tell your doctor or pharmacist:
Pregnancy and breastfeeding
Driving and using machines
Stelara has no or negligible influence on the ability to drive and use machines.
Stelara must be used under the guidance and supervision of a doctor with experience in the treatment of the conditions for which STELARA is indicated.
Always follow the instructions of your doctor for the administration of this medicine. If you are not sure, ask your doctor. Ask your doctor when you should have the injections and about follow-up appointments.
How much Stelara to use
Your doctor will decide how much Stelara you need to use and how long the treatment will last.
Adults aged 18 years and older
Psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis
Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis
Children and adolescents aged 6 years and older Psoriasis
How Stelara is given
Talk to your doctor if you have any questions about how to inject yourself.
If you use more Stelara than you should
If you have used or been given too much Stelara, talk to your doctor or pharmacist immediately.
Always carry the medicine box with you, even if it is empty.
If you forget to use Stelara
If you miss a dose, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. Do not take a double dose to make up for forgotten doses.
If you stop using Stelara
Stopping Stelara is not dangerous. However, if you stop using it, your symptoms may come back.
If you have any other questions about using this medicine, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.
Serious side effects
Some patients may have serious side effects that may need urgent treatment.
Allergic reactions – these may need urgent treatment. Contact your doctor or get emergency medical help immediately if you notice any of the following signs.
In rare cases, allergic reactions in the lungs and inflammation of the lungs have been reported in patients treated with ustekinumab. Tell your doctor immediately if you have symptoms such as cough, difficulty breathing, and fever.
If you have a severe allergic reaction, your doctor may decide that you should not use Stelara again.
Infections – these may need urgent treatment. Contact your doctor immediately if you notice any of these signs.
Stelara may affect your ability to fight infections, and some of them may become serious.
You should watch for signs of infection while using Stelara. These include:
Talk to your doctor immediately if you notice any of these signs of infection, as they may be signs of infections such as chest infections, or skin or herpes infections that may have serious complications. You should also tell your doctor if you have any infection that does not go away or comes back. Your doctor may decide that you should not use Stelara until the infection goes away. Also, talk to your doctor if you have any open cuts or sores that may become infected.
Shedding of the skin – increased redness and shedding of the skin over a large area of the body may be symptoms of psoriatic erythroderma or exfoliative dermatitis, which are serious skin disorders. If you notice any of these symptoms, you should tell your doctor immediately.
Other side effects
Common side effects(may affect up to 1 in 10 people):
Uncommon side effects(may affect up to 1 in 100 people):
Rare side effects(may affect up to 1 in 1,000 people):
Reporting of side effects
If you experience any side effects, talk to your doctor or pharmacist, even if it is possible that they are not listed in this leaflet. You can also report side effects directly through the national reporting system listed in Appendix V. By reporting side effects, you can help provide more information on the safety of this medicine.
Do not use this medication:
Stelara is for single use. You must discard any unused product remaining in the syringe. Medicines should not be disposed of via wastewater or household waste. Ask your pharmacist how to dispose of the packaging and any unused medicines. This will help protect the environment.
Composition of Stelara
Appearance of Stelara and package contents
Stelara is a clear or slightly opalescent (with a pearlescent sheen) injectable solution, colorless to light yellow. The solution may contain a few translucent or white protein particles.
It is presented in a pack containing 1 prefilled syringe of 1 ml glass. Each prefilled syringe contains 90 mg of ustekinumab in 1 ml of injectable solution.
Marketing Authorization Holder
Janssen-Cilag International NV
Turnhoutseweg 30
B-2340 Beerse
Belgium
Manufacturer
Janssen Biologics B.V.
Einsteinweg 101
2333 CB Leiden
Netherlands
You can request more information about this medicine by contacting the local representative of the marketing authorization holder:
België/Belgique/BelgienLietuva
Janssen-Cilag NV UAB "JOHNSON & JOHNSON"
Tel/Tél: + 32 14 64 94 11 Tel: +370 5 278 68 88
[email protected] [email protected]
????????Luxembourg/Luxemburg
„??????? & ??????? ????????” ???? Janssen-Cilag NV
???.: +359 2 489 94 00 Tél/Tel: +32 14 64 94 11
[email protected] [email protected]
Ceská republikaMagyarország
Janssen-Cilag s.r.o. Janssen-Cilag Kft.
Tel: +420 227 012 227 Tel.: +36 1 884 2858
DanmarkMalta
Janssen-Cilag A/S AM MANGION LTD
Tlf: +45 4594 8282 Tel: +356 2397 6000
DeutschlandNederland
Janssen-Cilag GmbH Janssen-Cilag B.V.
Tel: +49 2137 955 955 Tel: +31 76 711 1111
[email protected] [email protected]
EestiNorge
UAB "JOHNSON & JOHNSON" Eesti filiaal Janssen-Cilag AS
Tel: +372 617 7410 Tlf: + 47 24 12 65 00
[email protected] [email protected]
Ελλ?δαÖsterreich
Janssen-Cilag Φαρμακευτικ? Α.Ε.Β.Ε. Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH
Tηλ: +30 210 80 90 000 Tel: +43 1 610 300
EspañaPolska
Janssen-Cilag, S.A. Janssen-Cilag Polska Sp. z o.o.
Tel: +34 91 722 81 00 Tel.: + 48 22 237 60 00
FrancePortugal
Janssen-Cilag Janssen-Cilag Farmacêutica, Lda.
Tél: 0 800 25 50 75 / +33 1 55 00 40 03 Tel: +351 214 368 600
HrvatskaRomânia
Johnson & Johnson S.E. d.o.o. Johnson & Johnson România SRL
Tel: +385 1 6610 700 Tel: +40 21 207 1800
IrelandSlovenija
Janssen Sciences Ireland UC Johnson & Johnson d.o.o.
Tel: +353 1 800 709 122 Tel. +386 1 401 18 00
ÍslandSlovenská republika
Janssen-Cilag AB Johnson & Johnson, s.r.o.
c/o Vistor hf. Tel: +421 232 408 400
Sími: +354 535 7000
ItaliaSuomi/Finland
Janssen-Cilag SpA Janssen-Cilag Oy
Tel: 800.688.777 / +39 02 2510 1 Puh/Tel: +358 207 531 300
[email protected] [email protected]
Κ?προςSverige
Βαρν?βας Χατζηπαναγ?ς Λτδ Janssen-Cilag AB
Tηλ: +357 22 207 700 Tfn: +46 8 626 50 00
LatvijaUnited Kingdom
UAB "JOHNSON & JOHNSON" filiale Janssen-Cilag Ltd.
Latvija Tel: +44 1 494 567 444
Tel: +371 678 93561
Dateof the last revision of this leaflet{MM/AAAA}.
Detailed information on this medicine is available on the European Medicines Agency website:
http://www.ema.europa.eu/.
Administration instructions
At the start of treatment, your healthcare professional will help you with your first injection. However, you and your doctor may decide that you can inject Stelara yourself. If so, they will teach you how to inject Stelara. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions about administering the injections.
Figure 1 shows what the prefilled syringe looks like.

Figure 1
?Take the prefilled syringe(s) out of the refrigerator. Leave the prefilled syringe out of the carton for 30 minutes. This will allow the liquid to reach a comfortable temperature for administration (room temperature). Do not remove the needle cap while waiting for it to reach room temperature.
?Hold the prefilled syringe by the body with the needle cap pointing upwards.
?Do not hold the syringe by the plunger head, plunger, protector wings, or needle cap.
?Do not remove the plunger at any time.
?Do not remove the prefilled syringe cap until instructed to do so.
?Do not touch the activation clips of the needle protector (indicated by asterisks* in Figure 1) to avoid the needle protector covering the needle prematurely.
Check the prefilled syringe(s) to ensure that
o If your dose is 90 mg, you will have a 90 mg Stelara prefilled syringe.
Prepare all the materials you need and place them on a clean surface, including antiseptic wipes, cotton or gauze, and a container for sharp objects.
?Stelara is administered by injection under the skin (subcutaneously).
?Suitable injection sites include the upper thigh or the abdomen, at least 5 cm from the navel.
?Whenever possible, do not use skin areas that show signs of psoriasis.
?If someone else is administering the injection, they may also choose the upper arm as an injection site.

Figure 2
Prepare the injection site

Figure 3
With a single quick motion, insert the needle through the skin until it stops (see Figure 4).

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6
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Figure 7 |

Figure 8
Discuss dosage, side effects, interactions, contraindications, and prescription renewal for STELARA 90 mg SOLUTION FOR INJECTION IN PRE-FILLED SYRINGE – subject to medical assessment and local rules.