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Amisulpride

Therapeutic indications

Amisulpride 50mg Tablets are indicated for the treatment of acute and chronic schizophrenic disorders, in which positive symptoms (such as delusions, hallucinations, thought disorders) and/or negative symptoms (such as blunted affect, emotional and social withdrawal) are prominent, including patients characterised by predominant negative symptoms.

Method of Administration

For acute psychotic episodes, oral doses between 400 mg/d and 800 mg/d are recommended. In individual cases, the daily dose may be increased up to 1200 mg/d. Doses above 1200 mg/d have not been extensively evaluated for safety and therefore should not be used. No specific titration is required when initiating the treatment with amisulpride. Doses should be adjusted according to individual response.
For patients with mixed positive and negative symptoms, doses should be adjusted to obtain optimal control of positive symptoms.
Maintenance treatment should be established individually with the minimally effective dose.
For patients characterised by predominant negative symptoms, oral doses between 50 mg/d and 300 mg/d are recommended. Doses should be adjusted individually.
Amisulpride can be administered once daily at oral doses up to 300 mg, higher doses should be administered bid.
The minimum effective dose should be used.
Elderly:
Amisulpride should be used with particular caution because of a possible risk of hypotension or sedation. Reduction in dosage may also be required because of renal insufficiency.
Children:
Amisulpride is contra-indicated in children under 15 years of age as its safety has not yet been established.
The efficacy and safety of amisulpiride from puberty to the age of 18 years have not been established. There are limited data available on the use of amisulpiride in adolescents in schizophrenia. Therefore, the use of amisulpiride from puberty to the age of 18 years is not recommended.
Renal insufficiency:
Amisulpride is eliminated by the renal route. In renal insufficiency, the dose should be reduced to half in patients with creatinine clearance (CR CL) between 30-60 ml/min and to a third in patients with CR CL between 10-30 ml/min.
As there is no experience in patients with severe renal impairment (CR CL < 10 ml/min) particular care is recommended in these patients (see section 4.4).
Hepatic insufficiency:
Since the drug is weakly metabolised a dosage reduction should not be necessary.

Contraindications

• Hypersensitivity to the active substance
• Concomitant prolactin-dependent tumours e.g. pituitary gland prolactinomas and breast cancer
• Phaeochromocytoma
• Children under 15 years of age
• Pregnancy or lactation
• Women of childbearing potential unless using adequate contraception
• Combination with the following medication which could induce torsades de pointes:
- Class Ia antiarrhythmic agents such as quinidine, disopyramide, procainamide
- Class III antiarrhythmic agents such as amiodarone, sotalol
- Other medications such as bepridil, cisapride, sultopride, thioridazine, IV erythromycin, IV vincamine, Halofantrine, pentamidine, sparfloxacin
This list is not exhaustive
• Combination with levodopa (see Section 4.5)

Special warnings and precautions for use

As with other neuroleptics, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, characterized by hyperthermia, muscle rigidity, autonomic instability, altered consciousness and elevated CPK, may occur. In the event of hyperthermia, particularly with high daily doses, all antipsychotic drugs including Amisulpride should be discontinued.
Hyperglycaemia has been reported in patients treated with some atypical antipsychotic agents, including amisulpride, therefore patients with an established diagnosis of diabetes mellitus or with risk factors for diabetes who are started on amisulpride, should get appropriate glycaemic monitoring.
Amisulpride is eliminated by the renal route. In cases of severe renal insufficiency, the dose should be decreased and intermittent treatment should be considered (see Section 4.2).
Amisulpride may lower the seizure threshold. Therefore patients with a history of epilepsy should be closely monitored during Amisulpride therapy.
In elderly patients, Amisulpride, like other neuroleptics, should be used with particular caution because of a possible risk of hypotension or sedation.
As with other antidopaminergic agents, caution should be also exercised when prescribing Amisulpride to patients with Parkinson's disease since it may cause worsening of the disease. Amisulpride should be used only if neuroleptic treatment cannot be avoided.
Acute withdrawal symptoms including nausea, vomiting and insomnia have very rarely been described after abrupt cessation of high doses of antipsychotic drugs. Recurrence of psychotic symptoms may also occur, and the emergence of involuntary movement disorders (such as akathisa, dystonia and dyskinesia) has been reported. Therefore, gradual withdrawal is advisable.
Prolongation of the QT interval
Amisulpride induces a dose-dependent prolongation of the QT interval. This effect, known to potentiate the risk of serious ventricular arrhythmias such as torsades de pointes is enhanced by the pre-existence of bradycardia, hypokalaemia, congenital or acquired long QT interval. Caution should be exercised when amisulpride is prescribed in patients with known cardiovascular disease or family history of QT prolongation.
Hypokalaemia should be corrected.
Before any administration, and if possible according to the patient's clinical status, it is recommended to monitor factors which could favour the occurrence of this rhythm disorder:
- bradycardia less than 55 bpm,
- hypokalaemia,
- congenital prolongation of the QT interval.
- on-going treatment with a medication likely to produce pronounced bradycardia (< 55 bpm), hypokalaemia, decreased intracardiac conduction, or prolongation of the QTc interval
Caution should be exercised when amisulpride is prescribed in patients with known cardiovascular disease or family history of QT prolongation.
Concomitant antipsychotics should be avoided.
Stroke:
In randomized clinical trials versus placebo performed in a population of elderly patients with dementia and treated with certain atypical antipsychotic drugs, a 3-fold increase of the risk of cerebrovascular events has been observed. The mechanism of such risk increase is not known. An increase in the risk with other antipsychotic drugs, or other populations of patients cannot be excluded. Amisulpride should be used with caution in patients with stroke risk factors.
Increased Mortality in Elderly people with Dementia:
Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death. Analyses of seventeen placebo-controlled trials (modal duration of 10 weeks), largely in patients taking atypical antipsychotic drugs, revealed a risk of death in drug-treated patients of between 1.6 to 1.7 times the risk of death in placebo-treated patients. Over the course of a typical 10-week controlled trial, the rate of death in drug-treated patients was about 4.5%, compared to a rate of about 2.6% in the placebo group. Although the causes of death in clinical trials with atypical antipsychotics were varied, most of the deaths appeared to be either cardiovascular (e.g. hearth failure, sudden death) or infectious (e.g., pneumonia) in nature. Observational studies suggest that, similar to atypical antipsychotic drugs, treatment with conventional antipsychotic drugs may increase mortality. The extent to which the findings of increased mortality in observational studies may be attributed to the antipsychotic drug as opposed to some characteristic(s) of the patients is not clear.
Amisulpride is not licensed for the treatment of dementia-related behavioural disturbances.
Venous thromboembolism:
Cases of venous thromboembolism (VTE) have been reported with antipsychotic drugs. Since patients treated with antipsychotics often present with acquired risk factors for VTE, all possible risk factors for VTE should be identified before and during treatment with Amisulpride and preventive measures undertaken
Breast cancer:
Amisulpride may increase prolactin levels. Therefore, caution should be exercised and patients with a history or a family history of breast cancer should be closely monitored during Amisulpride therapy.
Leukopenia, neutropenia and agranulocytosis have been reported with antipsychotics, including Amisulpride. Unexplained infections or fever may be evidence of blood dyscrasia (see section 4.8), and requires immediate haematological investigation.
Patients with rare hereditary problems of galactose intolerance, the Lapp lactase deficiency or glucose-galactose malabsorption should not take this medicine.

Interaction with other medicinal products and other forms of interaction

COMBINATIONS WHICH ARE CONTRAINDICATED
Medications which could induce torsades de pointes:
- Class Ia antiarrhythmic agents such as quinidine, dispyramide, procainamide
- Class III antiarrhythmic agents such as amiodarone, sotalol
- Other medications such as bepridil, cisapride, sultopride, thioridazine, IV erythromycin, IV vincamine, Halofantrine, pentamidine, sparfloxacin
This list is not exhaustive
Levodopa: reciprocal antagonism of effects between levodopa and neuroleptics.
COMBINATIONS WHICH ARE NOT RECOMMENDED
Amisulpride may enhance the central effects of alcohol
COMBINATIONS WHICH REQUIRE PRECAUTIONS FOR USE
Medications which enhance the risk of torsades de pointes:
- Bradycardia-inducing medications such as beta-blockers, bradycardia-inducing calcium channel blockers such as diltiazem and verapamil, clonidine, guanfacine; digitalis
- Medications which induce hypokalaemia: hypokalaemic diuretics, stimulant laxatives, IV amphotericin B, glucocortocoids, tetracosactides
- Neuroleptics such as pimozide, haloperidon; imipramine, antidepressants; lithium
COMBINATIONS TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT
CNS depressants including narcotics, anaesthetics, analgesics, sedative H1 antihistamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and other anxiolytic drugs, clonidine and derivatives
Antihypertensive drugs and other hypotensive medications
Dopamine agonists (eg: levodopa) since it may attenuate their action

Fertility, pregnancy and lactation

Pregnancy
In animals, Amisulpride did not show reproductive toxicity. A decrease in fertility linked to the pharmacological effects of the drug (prolactin mediated effect) was observed. No teratogenic effects of Amisulpride were noted.
Very limited clinical data on exposed pregnancies are available. Therefore, the safety of Amisulpride during human pregnancy has not been established.
Use of the drug is not recommended during pregnancy unless the benefits justify the potential risks. If amisulpride is used during pregnancy, neonates may show adverse effects of amisulpride and thus appropriate monitoring should be considered.
For women of childbearing potential, effective contraception should be fully discussed with the physician prior to treatment.
Neonates exposed to antipsychotics including Amisulpride tablets during the third trimester of pregnancy are at risk of adverse reactions including extrapyramidal and/or withdrawal symptoms that may vary in severity and duration following delivery. There have been reports of agitation, hypertonia, hypotonia, tremor, somnolence, respiratory distress, or feeding disorder. Consequently, newborns should be monitored carefully.
Breast-feeding
It is not known whether Amisulpride is excreted in breast milk, breast-feeding is therefore contra-indicated.

Effects on ability to drive and use machines

Even used as recommended, amisulpride may affect reaction time so that the ability to drive vehicles or operate machinery can be impaired (see Section 4.8).

Undesirable effects

Adverse effects have been ranked under headings of frequency using the following convention: very common (≥1/10); common (≥1/100; <1/10); uncommon (≥1/1,000; <1/100); rare (≥1/10,000; <1/1,000); very rare (<1/10,000); frequency not known (cannot be estimated from the available data).

Overdose

Experience with amisulpride in overdosage is limited. Exaggeration of the known pharmacological effects of the drug have been reported. These include drowsiness and sedation, coma, hypotension and extrapyramidal symptoms.
Fatal outcomes have been reported mainly in combination with other psychotropic agents.
In cases of acute overdosage, the possibility of multiple drug intake should be considered.
Since amisulpride is weakly dialysed, hemodialysis should not be used to eliminate the drug.
There is no specific antidote to amisulpride. Appropriate supportive measures should therefore be instituted with close supervision of vital functions including continuous cardiac monitoring due to risk of prolongation of the QT interval until the patient recovers.
If severe extrapyramidal symptoms occur, anticholinergic agents should be administered.

5. Pharmacological properties

5.1 Pharmacodynamic properties
Pharmacotherapeutic group: Antipsychotics
ATC Code: NO5A LO5
Mechanism of action
Amisulpride binds selectively with a high affinity to human dopaminergic D 2/D 3 receptor subtypes whereas it is devoid of affinity for D 1, D 4 and D 5 receptor subtypes.
Unlike classical and atypical neuroleptics, amisulpride has no affinity for serotonic, α-adrenergic, histamine H 1 and cholinergic receptors. In addition, amisulpride does not bind to sigma sites.
Pharmacodynamic effects
In animal studies, at high doses, amisulpride blocks dopamine receptors located in the limbic structure in preference to those in the striatum.
At low doses it preferentially blocks pre-synaptic D 2/D 3 receptors, producing dopamine release responsible for its disinhibitory effects.
This pharmacological profile explains the clinical efficacy of amisulpride against both negative and positive symptoms of schizopheria.
5.2 Pharmacokinetic properties
Absorption
In man, amisulpride shows two absorption peaks: one which is attained rapidly, one hour post-dose and a second between 3 and 4 hours after administration. Corresponding plasma concentrations are 39 ± 3 and 54 ± 4 ng/ml after a 50mg dose.
A carbohydrate rich meal (containing 68% fluids) significantly decreases the AUCs, Tmax and Cmax of amisulpride but no changes were seen after a high fat meal. However, the significance of these findings in routine clinical use is not known.
Distribution
The volume of distribution is 5.8 l/kg, plasma protein binding is low (16%) and no drug interactions are suspected.
Biotransformation
Absolute bioavailability is 48%. Amisulpride is weakly metabolised: two inactive metabolites, accounting for approximately 4% of the dose, have been identified. There is no accumulation of amisulpride and its pharmacokinetics remain unchanged after the administration of repeated doses.
Elimination
The elimination half-life of amisulpride is approximately 12 hours after an oral dose.
Amisulpride is eliminated unchanged in the urine. Fifty percent of an intravenous dose is excreted via the urine, of which 90% is eliminated in the first 24 hours. Renal clearance is in the order of 20 l/h or 330 ml/min.
Pharmacokinetics in special patient groups
Hepatic insufficiency: since the drug is weakly metabolised a dosage reduction should not be necessary in patients with hepatic insufficiency.
Renal insufficiency: The elimination half-life is unchanged in patients with renal insufficiency while systemic clearance is reduced by a factor of 2.5 to 3. The AUC of amisulpride in mild renal failure increased two fold and almost tenfold in moderate renal failure (see chapter 4.2). Experience is however limited and there is no data with doses greater than 50 mg.
Amisulpride is very weakly dialysed.
Elderly: Limited pharmacokinetic data in elderly subjects (> 65 years) show that a 10-30 % rise occurs in Cmax, T1/2 and AUC after a single oral dose of 50 mg. No data are available after repeat dosing.
5.3 Preclinical safety data
An overall review of the completed safety studies indicates that amisulpride is devoid of any general, organ-specific, teratogenic, mutagenic or carcinogenic risk. Changes observed in rats and dogs at doses below the maximum tolerated dose are either pharmacological effects or are devoid of major toxicological significance under these conditions. Compared with the maximum recommended dosages in man, maximum tolerated doses are 2 and 7 times greater in the rat (200 mg/kg/d) and dog (120 mg/kg/d) respectively in terms of AUC. No carcinogenic risk, relevant to man, was identified in the rat at up to 1.5 to 4.5 times the expected human AUC.
A mouse carcinogenicity study (120 mg/kg/d) and reproductive studies (160, 300 and 500 mg/kg/d respectively in rat, rabbit and mouse) were performed. The exposure of the animals to amisulpride during these latter studies was not evaluated.

6. Pharmaceutical particulars

6.1 Shelf life
24 months
6.2 Special precautions for storage
Do not store above 25°C. Store in original package

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