Alvesco 80mcg Information
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Dosage And Administration
ALVESCO should be administered by the orally inhaled route. Prime ALVESCO Inhalation Aerosol before using for the first time by actuating 3 times prior to using the first dose from a new canister or when the inhaler has not been used for more than 10 days. Individual patients will experience a variable time to onset and degree of symptom relief. Maximum benefit may not be achieved for four weeks or longer after initiation. After asthma stability has been achieved, it is desirable to titrate to the lowest effective dosage to reduce the possibility of side effects. For patients who do not respond adequately to the starting dose after 4 weeks of therapy, higher doses may provide additional asthma control. The safety and efficacy of ALVESCO when administered in excess of the highest recommended doses has not been established.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Dosage Forms And Strengths
ALVESCO Inhalation Aerosol is available in the following two strengths: 80 mcg/actuation, and 160 mcg/actuation. The 80 mcg/actuation strength contains 60 actuations fill/canister, and the 160 mcg/actuation strength contains 60 actuations fill/canister.
ALVESCO 80 mcg Inhalation Aerosol is supplied with a brown plastic actuator with a red dust cap.
ALVESCO 160 mcg Inhalation Aerosol is supplied with a red plastic actuator with a red dust cap.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Warnings And Precautions
Persons who are using drugs that suppress the immune system are more susceptible to infections than healthy individuals. Chickenpox and measles, for example can have a more serious or even fatal course in susceptible children or adults using corticosteroids. In such children or adults who have not had these diseases or been properly immunized, particular care should be taken to avoid exposure. How the dose, route, and duration of corticosteroid administration affect the risk of developing a disseminated infection is not known. The contribution of the underlying disease and/or prior corticosteroid treatment to the risk is also not known. If exposed to chickenpox, prophylaxis with varicella zoster immune globulin (VZIG) may be indicated. If exposed to measles, prophylaxis with pooled intramuscular immunoglobulin (IG) may be indicated. (See the respective package inserts for complete VZIG and IG prescribing information.) If chickenpox develops, treatment with antiviral agents may be considered.
Inhaled corticosteroids should be used with caution, if at all, in patients with active or quiescent tuberculosis infection of the respiratory tract; untreated systemic fungal, bacterial, viral, or parasitic infections; or ocular herpes simplex.
Particular care is needed for patients who are transferred from systemically active corticosteroids to ALVESCO because deaths due to adrenal insufficiency have occurred in asthmatic patients during and after transfer from systemic corticosteroids to less systemically-available inhaled corticosteroids. After withdrawal from systemic corticosteroids, a number of months are required for recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function.
Patients who have been previously maintained on 20 mg or more per day of prednisone (or its equivalent) may be most susceptible, particularly when their systemic corticosteroids have been almost completely withdrawn. During this period of HPA suppression, patients may exhibit signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency when exposed to trauma, surgery, or infection (particularly gastroenteritis) or other conditions associated with severe electrolyte loss. Although ALVESCO may provide control of asthma symptoms during these episodes, in recommended doses it supplies less than normal physiological amounts of corticosteroid systemically and does NOT provide the mineralocorticoid activity that is necessary for coping with these emergencies.
During periods of stress or a severe asthma attack, patients who have been withdrawn from systemic corticosteroids should be instructed to resume oral corticosteroids (in large doses) immediately and to contact their physicians for further instruction. These patients should also be instructed to carry a medical identification card indicating that they may need supplementary systemic corticosteroids during periods of stress or a severe asthma attack.
Patients requiring oral corticosteroids should be weaned slowly from systemic corticosteroid use after transferring to ALVESCO. Prednisone reduction can be accomplished by reducing the daily prednisone dose by 2.5 mg on a weekly basis during ALVESCO therapy . Lung function (FEV or AM PEFR), beta-agonist use, and asthma symptoms should be carefully monitored during withdrawal of oral corticosteroids. In addition to monitoring asthma signs and symptoms, patients should be observed for signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency, such as fatigue, lassitude, weakness, nausea and vomiting, and hypotension.
Transfer of patients from systemic steroid therapy to ALVESCO may unmask allergic conditions previously suppressed by the systemic steroid therapy, e.g., rhinitis, conjunctivitis, eczema, arthritis, and eosinophilic conditions.
During withdrawal from oral steroids, some patients may experience symptoms of systemically active steroid withdrawal, e.g., joint and/or muscular pain, lassitude, and depression, despite maintenance or even improvement of respiratory function.
Glaucoma, increased intraocular pressure, and cataracts have been reported following the administration of inhaled corticosteroids including ALVESCO. Therefore, close monitoring is warranted in patients with a change in vision or with a history of increased intraocular pressure, glaucoma, and/or cataracts.
In a comparator control study of one year treatment duration, 743 patients 18 years of age and older (mean age 43.1 years) with moderate persistent asthma were treated with ALVESCO 320 mcg twice daily and 742 were treated with a labeled dose of a comparator inhaled corticosteroid appropriate for the patient population. Patients had an ophthalmology examination that included visual acuity, intraocular pressure measurement, and a slit lamp examination at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 months. Lens opacities were graded using the Lens Opacification System III. After 52 weeks, CLASS I effects (minimally detected changes) were recorded in 36.1% of the ALVESCO-treated patients and in 38.4% of patients treated with the comparator inhaled corticosteroid. The more severe CLASS III effects were recorded in 8.1% of the ALVESCO-treated patients and 9.2% of patients treated with the comparator inhaled corticosteroid. Of those patients having a CLASS III effect, the incidence of posterior sub-capsular opacities was 0.9% and 0.5% in the ALVESCO- and comparator-treated patients respectively.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Adverse Reactions
Systemic and local corticosteroid use may result in the following:
The safety data described below for adults and adolescents 12 years of age and older reflect exposure to ALVESCO in doses ranging from 80 mcg to 640 mcg twice daily in five double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials. Studies with once daily dosing are omitted from the safety database because the doses studied once daily are lower than the highest recommended twice daily doses. The five studies were of 12 to 16 weeks treatment duration, one of which included a safety extension follow up of one year. In the 12 to 16 week treatment studies, 720 patients (298 males and 422 females) aged 12 years and older were exposed to ALVESCO. In the long-term safety trial, 197 patients (82 males and 115 females) with severe persistent asthma from one of the 12-week trials were re-randomized and treated for up to one year with ALVESCO 320 mcg twice daily. Safety information for pediatric patients 4 to 11 years of age, is obtained from once daily dosing studies. Two of these studies were designed with a 12-week double-blind treatment period followed by a long-term open label safety extension of one year, and one study was an open label safety study of one year duration .
Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.
In addition to adverse reactions identified from clinical trials, the following adverse reactions have been identified during worldwide post-marketing use of ciclesonide oral inhalation. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure.
Immune System Disorders: Immediate or delayed hypersensitivity reactions such as angioedema with swelling of the lips, tongue and pharynx.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Drug Interactions
In clinical studies, concurrent administration of ciclesonide and other drugs commonly used in the treatment of asthma (albuterol, formoterol) had no effect on pharmacokinetics of des-ciclesonide .
In a drug interaction study, co-administration of orally inhaled ciclesonide and oral ketoconazole, a potent inhibitor of cytochrome P450 3A4, increased the exposure (AUC) of des-ciclesonide by approximately 3.6-fold at steady state, while levels of ciclesonide remained unchanged.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Use In Specific Populations
The safety and effectiveness of ALVESCO in children under 12 years of age have not been established.
Two randomized double-blind placebo-controlled studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of ALVESCO 40, 80, or 160 mcg administered once daily for 12 weeks in patients 4 to 11 years of age with asthma. These studies included 1018 patients previously using either controller therapy (predominately inhaled corticosteroids) or reliever therapy (bronchodilator therapy alone). The patients had a mean baseline percent predicated FEV of 68%. The primary efficacy endpoint was morning pre-dose FEV. Other measures of efficacy included AM PEF, asthma symptoms, and rescue albuterol use. The studies showed inconsistent results and do not establish the efficacy of ALVESCO in patients 4 to 11 years of age.
The safety of ALVESCO was evaluated in 957 children between the ages of 4 and 11 who were treated with ALVESCO in the two controlled clinical studies, 2 open label one-year safety extensions of the controlled clinical studies, and one open label safety study. In the controlled studies, the distribution of adverse events in the ALVESCO and placebo groups was similar. The type of adverse events reported were similar to events reported in this patient population with other inhaled corticosteroids. The open label safety studies compared the safety of ALVESCO in doses up to 160 mcg once daily with an orally inhaled corticosteroid comparator. The types of adverse events seen were similar to those seen in the 12-week controlled studies.
Controlled clinical studies have shown that orally inhaled corticosteroids may cause a reduction in growth velocity in pediatric patients. In these studies, the mean reduction in growth velocity was approximately one centimeter per year (range 0.3 to 1.8 cm per year) and appears to be related to dose and duration of exposure. This effect has been observed in the absence of laboratory evidence of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis suppression, suggesting that growth velocity is a more sensitive indicator of systemic corticosteroid exposure in pediatric patients than some commonly used tests of HPA axis function. The long-term effects of this reduction in growth velocity associated with orally inhaled corticosteroids, including the impact on final adult height are unknown. The potential for "catch up" growth following discontinuation of treatment with orally inhaled corticosteroids has not been adequately studied. The growth of pediatric patients receiving orally inhaled corticosteroids including ALVESCO should be monitored routinely (e.g., via stadiometry).
A 52-week, multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled parallel-group study was conducted to assess the effect of orally inhaled ciclesonide on growth rate in 609 pediatric patients with mild persistent asthma, aged 5 to 8.5 years. Treatment groups included orally inhaled ciclesonide 40 mcg or 160 mcg or placebo given once daily. Growth was measured by stadiometer height during the baseline, treatment and follow-up periods. The primary comparison was the difference in growth rates between ciclesonide 40 and 160 mcg and placebo groups. Conclusions cannot be drawn from this study because compliance could not be assured. There was no difference in efficacy measures between the placebo and the ALVESCO groups. Ciclesonide blood levels were also not measured during the one-year treatment period.
The potential growth effects of prolonged treatment with orally inhaled corticosteroids should be weighed against clinical benefits obtained and the availability of safe and effective noncorticosteroid treatment alternatives. To minimize the systemic effects of orally inhaled corticosteroids, including ALVESCO, each patient should be titrated to his/her lowest effective dose.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Overdosage
Chronic overdosage may result in signs/symptoms of hypercorticism . ALVESCO was well tolerated following inhalation by healthy subjects of single doses of 2880 mcg. A single oral dose of up to 10 mg of ciclesonide in healthy subjects was well tolerated and serum cortisol levels were virtually unchanged in comparison with placebo treatment. Adverse reactions were of mild or moderate severity.
The median lethal doses in mice and rats after single oral and intraperitoneal administration were >2000 mg/kg and >200 mg/kg, respectively. These doses are >12000 and >2500 times the maximum recommended daily inhalation dose in adults on a mg/m basis.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Description
The active component of ALVESCO 80 mcg Inhalation Aerosol, and ALVESCO 160 mcg Inhalation Aerosol is ciclesonide, a non-halogenated glucocorticoid having the chemical name pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione, 16,17-[[(R)-cyclohexylmethylene]bis(oxy)]-11-hydroxy-21-(2-methyl-1-oxopropoxy)-,(11β,16α). The empirical formula is CHO and its molecular weight is 540.7. Its structural formula is as follows:
Ciclesonide is a white to yellow-white powder. It is soluble in dehydrated alcohol, acetone, dichloromethane, and chloroform.
ALVESCO 80 mcg Inhalation Aerosol and ALVESCO 160 mcg Inhalation Aerosol are pressurized, metered-dose aerosol units fitted with a dose indicator. ALVESCO is intended for oral inhalation only. Each unit contains a solution of ciclesonide in propellant HFA-134a (1,1,1,2 tetrafluoroethane) and ethanol. After priming, ALVESCO 80 mcg delivers 100 mcg from the valve and 80 mcg of ciclesonide from the actuator. ALVESCO 160 mcg delivers 200 mcg from the valve and 160 mcg of ciclesonide from the actuator. This product delivers 50 microliters (59.3 milligrams) of solution as a fine particle mist from the valve with each actuation. The actual amount of drug delivered to the lung may depend on patient factors, such as the coordination between the actuation of the device and inspiration through the delivery system. ALVESCO should be “primed” by actuating 3 times prior to using the first dose from a new canister or when the inhaler has not been used for more than 10 days. Avoid spraying in the eyes or face while priming ALVESCO.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Clinical Pharmacology
Ciclesonide, is a prodrug, that is enzymatically hydrolyzed to a pharmacologically active metabolite, C21-desisobutyryl-ciclesonide (des-ciclesonide or RM1) following oral inhalation. Des-ciclesonide has anti-inflammatory activity with affinity for glucocorticoid receptors that is 120 times greater than the parent compound and 12 times greater than dexamethasone. The clinical significance of these findings is unknown.
The precise mechanisms of corticosteroid action in asthma are unknown. Inflammation is recognized as an important component in the pathogenesis of asthma. Corticosteroids have been shown to have a wide range of inhibitory activities against multiple cell types (e.g., mast cells, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils) and mediators (e.g., histamine, eicosanoids, leukotrienes, and cytokines) involved in the asthmatic response. These anti-inflammatory actions of corticosteroids may contribute to their efficacy in asthma. Though effective for the treatment of asthma, corticosteroids do not affect asthma symptoms immediately. Individual patients will experience a variable time to onset and degree of symptom relief. Maximum benefit may not be achieved for four weeks or longer after starting treatment. When corticosteroids are discontinued, asthma stability may persist for several days or longer.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) How Supplied/storage And Handling
ALVESCO is available in the following strengths and canister presentations.
ALVESCO 80 mcg Inhalation Aerosol is supplied with a brown plastic actuator with a red dust cap. Each actuation of the inhaler delivers 80 mcg of ciclesonide from the actuator.
ALVESCO 160 mcg Inhalation Aerosol is supplied with a red plastic actuator with a red dust cap. Each actuation of the inhaler delivers 160 mcg of ciclesonide from the actuator.
ALVESCO canisters are for use with ALVESCO Inhalation Aerosol actuators only. The actuators are fitted with a dose indicator and should not be used with other inhalation aerosol medications. The correct amount of medication in each actuation cannot be assured from the canister labeled to contain 60 actuations when the dose indicator display window shows zero even though the canister is not completely empty. The canister should be discarded when the dose indicator display window shows zero.
Excursions between 15° and 30°C (59° and 86°F) are permitted (see USP). For optimal results, the canister should be at room temperature when used. Keep out of reach of children.
Do not puncture. Do not use or store near heat or open flame. Exposure to temperatures above 49°C (120°F) may cause bursting. Never throw canister into fire or incinerator.
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide) Patient Counseling Information
See FDA-Approved Patient Labeling accompanying the product.
Patients should use ALVESCO only with the actuator supplied with the product. When the dose indicator display window shows a red zone, approximately 20 inhalations are left, and a refill is required. Discard the inhaler when the indicator shows zero.
Manufactured for: Marlborough, MA 01752 USAMade in the United Kingdom
ALVESCO is a registered trademark of Nycomed GmbH and is used with permission.US Patent Nos. 5,482,934; 6,264,923©2007 Nycomed
July 2008901139R01
Relabeling of "Additional Barcode Label" by:
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide)
Alvesco 80mcg (Ciclesonide)
