INTIRACETAM FILM COATED TABLET 500mg

TABLET, FILM COATED

**Dosage and Administration** Levetiracetam therapy can be initiated with either intravenous or oral administration. Conversion to or from oral to intravenous administration can be done directly without titration. The total daily dose and frequency of administration should be maintained. _Film-coated tablets_ The film-coated tablets must be taken orally, swallowed with a sufficient quantity of liquid and may be taken with or without food. After oral administration the bitter taste of levetiracetam may be experienced. The daily dose is administered in two equally divided doses. The score line does not break the tablet into equal halves and is not intended for dividing the tablet into half doses for administration. It only serves to facilitate breaking for ease of swallowing. **Route of Administration** For oral use. **Adults** **Monotherapy** _Adults and adolescents from 16 years of age_ The recommended starting dose is 250 mg twice daily which should be increased to an initial therapeutic dose of 500 mg twice daily after two weeks. The dose can be further increased by 250 mg twice daily every two weeks depending upon the clinical response. The maximum dose is 1500 mg twice daily. **Add-on therapy** _Adults ( 18 years) and adolescents (12 to 17 years) weighing 50 kg or more_ The initial therapeutic dose is 500 mg twice daily. This dose can be started on the first day of treatment. Depending upon the clinical response and tolerability, the daily dose can be increased up to 1500 mg twice daily. Dose changes can be made in 500 mg twice daily increases or decreases every two to four weeks. **Children** The physician should prescribe the most appropriate pharmaceutical form, presentation and strength according to age, weight and dose. The tablet formulation is not adapted for use in children under the age of 6 years. Levetiracetam oral solution is the preferred formulation for use in this population. In addition, the available dose strengths of the tablets are not appropriate for initial treatment in children weighing less than 25 kg, for patients unable to swallow tablets or for the administration of doses below 250 mg. In all of the above cases, Levetiracetam oral solution should be used. **Monotherapy** The safety and efficacy of levetiracetam in children and adolescents below 16 years as monotherapy treatment have not been established. There are no data available. _Dose recommendations for children and adolescents:_  Dose in children and adolescents 50 kg or more is the same as in adults **Elderly** Adjustment of the dose is recommended in elderly patients with compromised renal function. **Renal impairment** The daily dose must be individualised according to renal function ( _see Section Warnings and Precautions_ – _please refer to the Product Insert/Patient Information Leaflet published on HSA for the full drug information_). For adult patients, refer to the following table and adjust the dose as indicated. To use this dosing table, an estimate of the patient's creatinine clearance (CLcr) in ml/min is needed. The CLcr in ml/min may be estimated from serum creatinine (mg/dl) determination, for adults and adolescents weighing 50 kg or more, using the following formula:  Then CLcr is adjusted for body surface area (BSA) as follows:  Dosing adjustment for adult and adolescent patients weighing more than 50kg with impaired renal function  For children with renal impairment, levetiracetam dose needs to be adjusted based on the renal function as levetiracetam clearance is related to renal function. This recommendation is based on a study in adult renally impaired patients. **Hepatic impairment** No dose adjustment is needed in patients with mild to moderate hepatic impairment. In patients with severe hepatic impairment, the creatinine clearance may underestimate the renal insufficiency. Therefore a 50% reduction of the daily maintenance dose is recommended when the creatinine clearance is < 60 ml/min/1.73m2.