Drug interactions may change how your medications work or increase your risk for serious side effects. This document does not contain all possible drug interactions. Keep a list of all the products you use (including prescription/nonprescription drugs and herbal products) and share it with your doctor and pharmacist. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicines without your doctor’s approval. A product that may interact with this drug is: cabergoline.
This medication can slow down the removal of other medications from your body, which may affect how they work. Examples of affected drugs include dextromethorphan, among others.
If someone has overdosed and has serious symptoms such as passing out or trouble breathing, call 911. Otherwise, call a poison control center right away. US residents can call their local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222. Canada residents can call a provincial poison control center. Symptoms of overdose may include: hallucinations, feeling “high,” feelings of standing next to yourself (disassociation).
Notes
Do not share this medication with others. It is against the law and may cause harm. Keep this medicine in a safe place to prevent theft, misuse, or abuse.
Laboratory and/or medical tests (such as complete blood count, prolactin levels) may be performed periodically to monitor your progress or check for side effects. Consult your doctor for more details.
Missed Dose
If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember. If it is near the time of the next dose, skip themissed dose and resume your usual dosing schedule. Do not double the dose to catch up.
Storage
Store at room temperature away from light and moisture. Do not store in the bathroom. Keep all medications away from children and pets.
Clinical Trials Experience
In the BELVIQ placebo-controlled clinical database of trials of at least one year in duration, of 6888 patients (3451 BELVIQ vs. 3437 placebo; age range 18-66 years, 79.3% women, 66.6% Caucasians, 19.2% Blacks, 11.8% Hispanics, 2.4% other, 7.4% type 2 diabetics), a total of 1969 patients were exposed to BELVIQ 10 mg twice daily for 1 year and 426 patients were exposed for 2 years.
In clinical trials of at least one year in duration, 8.6% of patients treated with BELVIQ prematurely discontinued treatment due to adverse reactions, compared with 6.7% of placebo-treated patients. The most common adverse reactions leading to discontinuation more often among BELVIQ treated patients than placebo were headache (1.3% vs. 0.8%), depression (0.9% vs. 0.5%) and dizziness (0.7% vs. 0.2%).
Most Common Adverse Reactions
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.
The most common adverse reactions for non-diabetic patients (greater than 5% and more commonly than placebo) treated with BELVIQ compared to placebo were headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, dry mouth, and constipation. The most common adverse reactions for diabetic patients were hypoglycemia, headache, back pain, cough, and fatigue. Adverse reactions that were reported by greater than or equal to 2% of patients and were more frequently reported by patients taking BELVIQ compared to placebo are summarized in Table 2 (non-diabetic subjects) and Table 3 (subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus).
Serotonin-associated Adverse Reactions
SSRIs, SNRIs, bupropion, tricyclic antidepressants, and MAOIs were excluded from the BELVIQ trials. Triptans and dextromethorphan were permitted: 2% and 15%, respectively, of patients without diabetes and 1% and 12%, respectively, of patients with type 2 diabetes experienced concomitant use at some point during the trials. Two patients treated with BELVIQ in the clinical program experienced a constellation of symptoms and signs consistent with serotonergic excess, including one patient on concomitant dextromethorphan who reported an event of serotonin syndrome. Some symptoms of possible serotonergic etiology that are included in the criteria for serotonin syndrome were reported by patients treated with BELVIQ and placebo during clinical trials of at least 1 year in duration. In both groups, chills were the most frequent of these events (1.0% vs. 0.2%, respectively), followed by tremor (0.3% vs. 0.2%), confusional state (0.2% vs. less than 0.1%), disorientation (0.1% vs. 0.1%) and hyperhidrosis (0.1% vs. 0.2%). Because serotonin syndrome has a very low incidence, an association between BELVIQ and serotonin syndrome cannot be excluded on the basis of clinical trial results.
Hypoglycemia in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
In a clinical trial of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia requiring the assistance of another person occurred in 4 (1.6%) of BELVIQ-treated patients and in 1 (0.4%) placebo-treated patient. Of these 4 BELVIQ-treated patients, all were concomitantly using a sulfonylurea (with or without metformin). BELVIQ has not been studied in patients taking insulin. Hypoglycemia defined as blood sugar less than or equal to 65 mg/dL and with symptoms occurred in 19 (7.4%) BELVIQ-treated patients and 16 (6.3%) placebo-treated patients.
Cognitive Impairment
In clinical trials of at least 1-year duration, adverse reactions related to cognitive impairment (e.g., difficulty with concentration/attention, difficulty with memory, and confusion) occurred in 2.3% of patients taking BELVIQ and 0.7% of patients taking placebo.
Psychiatric Disorders
Psychiatric disorders leading to hospitalization or drug withdrawal occurred more frequently in patients treated with BELVIQ (2.2%) as compared to placebo (1.1%) in non-diabetic patients.
Euphoria. In short-term studies with healthy individuals, the incidence of euphoric mood following supratherapeutic doses of BELVIQ (40 and 60 mg) was increased as compared to placebo [see Drug Abuse and Dependence. In clinical trials of at least 1-year duration in obese patients, euphoria was observed in 0.17% of patients taking BELVIQ and 0.03% taking placebo.
Depression and Suicidality. In trials of at least one year in duration, reports of depression/mood problems occurred in 2.6% BELVIQ-treated vs. 2.4% placebo-treated and suicidal ideation occurred in 0.6% BELVIQ-treated vs. 0.4% placebo-treated patients. 1.3% of BELVIQ patients vs. 0.6% of placebo patients discontinued drug due to depression-, mood-, or suicidal ideation-related events.
Laboratory Abnormalities
Lymphocyte and Neutrophil Counts. In clinical trials of at least 1-year duration, lymphocyte counts were below the lower limit of normal in 12.2% of patients taking BELVIQ and 9.0% taking placebo, and neutrophil counts were low in 5.6% and 4.3%, respectively.
Hemoglobin. In clinical trials of at least 1-year duration, 10.4% of patients taking BELVIQ and 9.3% taking placebo had hemoglobin below the lower limit of normal at some point during the trials.
Prolactin. In clinical trials, elevations of prolactin greater than the upper limit of normal, two times the upper limit of normal, and five times the upper limit of normal, occurred in 6.7%, 1.7%, and 0.1% of BELVIQ-treated patients and 4.8%, 0.8%, and 0.0% of placebo-treated patients, respectively.
Eye disorders
More patients on BELVIQ reported an eye disorder than patients on placebo in clinical trials of patients without diabetes (4.5% vs. 3.0%) and with type 2 diabetes (6.3% vs. 1.6%). In the population without diabetes, events of blurred vision, dry eye, and visual impairment occurred in BELVIQ-treated patients at an incidence greater than that of placebo. In the population with type 2 diabetes, visual disorders, conjunctival infections, irritations, and inflammations, ocularsensation disorders, and cataract conditions occurred in BELVIQ-treated patients at an incidence greater than placebo.
Echocardiographic Safety Assessments
The possible occurrence of regurgitant cardiac valve disease was prospectively evaluated in 7794 patients in three clinical trials of at least one year in duration, 3451 of whom took BELVIQ 10 mg twice daily. The primary echocardiographic safety parameter was the proportion of patients who developed echocardiographic criteria of mild or greater aortic insufficiency and/or moderate or greater mitral insufficiency from baseline to 1 year. At 1 year, 2.4% of patients who received BELVIQ and 2.0% of patients who received placebo developed valvular regurgitation. The relative risk for valvulopathy with BELVIQ is summarized in Table 4. BELVIQ was not studied in patients with congestive heart failure or hemodynamically-significant valvular heart disease.
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