Bilagra M

Uses

Bilastine is used for symptomatic treatment of allergic rhino-conjunctivitis (seasonal and perennial) and urticaria.
Efficacy and safety of Bilastine in children under 2 years of age have not been established and there is little clinical experience in children aged 2 to 5 years, therefore Bilastine should not be used in these age groups.

Montelukast is used for-

• The prophylaxis and chronic treatment of asthma in adults and paediatric patients 12 months of age and older.
• The relief of symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis in adults and paediatric patients 2 years of age and older.

Bilagra M is also used to associated treatment for these conditions: Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria, Seasonal Allergic RhinitisAsthma, Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm, Perennial Allergic Rhinitis (PAR), Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis

How Bilagra M works

Bilastine is a selective histamine H1 receptor antagonist (Ki = 64nM) . During allergic response mast cells undergo degranulation which releases histamine and other subastances. By binding to and preventing activation of the H1 receptor, bilastine reduces the development of allergic symptoms due to the release of histamine from mast cells.

Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLT) like LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4, among others, are eicosanoids released by a variety of cells like mast cells and eosinophils. When such CysLT bind to corresponding CysLT receptors like CysLT type-1 receptors located on respiratory airway smooth muscle cells, airway macrophages, and on various pro-inflammatory cells like eosinophils and some specific myeloid stem cells activities that facilitate the pathophysiology of asthma and allergic rhinitis are stimulated.

In particular, CysLT-mediated airway bronchoconstriction, occluding mucous secretion, vascular permeability, and eosinophil recruitment are all types of effects that facilitate asthma. Alternatively, in allergic rhinitis, CysLTs are released by the nasal mucosa when exposed to allergens during both early and late phase reactions and participate in eliciting symptoms of allergic rhinitis like a congested nose and airway.

Subsequently, montelukast is a leukotriene receptor antagonist that binds with high affinity and selectivity to the CysLT type 1 receptor, which consequently assists in inhibiting any physiological actions of CysLTs like LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4 at the receptor that may facilitate asthma or allergic rhinitis.

Dosage

Bilagra M dosage

Adults & adolescents (12 years of age and over): 20 mg tablet once daily for symptomatic relief of allergic rhinitis, urticaria and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. The maximum recommended daily dose is 20 mg Bilastine (1 tablet) and should not be exceeded. If a dose is missed, the next scheduled dose should be taken. An extra dose should not be taken. 20 mg Bilastine tablet (1 tablet) once daily should be swallowed with water on an empty stomach to achieve optimal exposure to Bilastine.

Children between 6 to 11 years: 10 mg mouth dissolving tablet for the symptomatic relief of allergic rhinitis, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and urticaria. The Mouth dissolving tablet is for oral use only. It should be placed in the mouth. It will disperse rapidly in saliva and can be easily swallowed. Alternatively, the mouth dissolving tablet can be dispersed in a tea spoon of water before being swallowed by the children. The maximum recommended daily dose for children in between 6 to 11 years is 10 mg Bilastine mouth dissolving tablet (1 tablet) and should not be exceeded. If a dose is missed, the next scheduled dose should be taken. An extra dose should not be taken.

Children between 2 to 11 years: 4 ml once daily.

General information: Montelukast should be taken once daily. For asthma, the dose should be taken in the evening. For seasonal allergic rhinitis, the time of administration may be individualised to suit patients needs. Patients with both asthma and seasonal allergic rhinitis should take only one tablet daily in the evening.

Adults and adolescents 15 years of age and older with asthma or seasonal allergic rhinitis: The dosage is one 10 mg tablet daily.

Paediatric patients 6 to 14 years of age with asthma or seasonal allergic rhinitis: The dosage is one 5 mg tablet daily. No dosage adjustment within this age group is necessary.

Paediatric patients 2 to 5 years of age with asthma or seasonal allergic rhinitis: The dosage is one 4 mg tablet daily.

Paediatric patients 12 to 23 months of age with asthma: The dosage is one 4 mg tablet daily to be taken in the evening. Safety and effectiveness in paediatric patients younger than 12 months of age have not been established.

Side Effects

The most commonly reported side effects in clinical trial are headache, dizziness, somnolence and fatigue. These adverse events occurred with a comparable frequency in patients receiving placebo.

Adolescents and Adults 15 years of age and older: In placebo-controlled clinical trials, Montelukast has been evaluated for safety in approximately 2600 adolescent and adult patients of 15 years and older, the following adverse experiences reported with Montelukast occurred in greater than or equal to 1% of patients.

• General: Asthenia/fatigue, Fever, Pain
• Gastrointestinal: Dyspepsia, Gastroenteritis; Nervous
• System/Psychiatric: Dizziness, Headache
• Respiratory System: Congestion, Cough, Influenza
• Skin: Rash; Laboratory adverse experiences: ALT increase, AST increase, Pyuria.

Paediatric patients 6 to 14 years of age: In paediatric patients receiving montelukast, the following events occurred with a frequency 2% are diarrhoea, laryngitis, pharyngitis, nausea, otitis, sinusitis, and viral infection. With prolonged treatment, the adverse profile did not change significantly.

Toxicity

The most common adverse effects experienced during clinical trials were abdominal pain, dizziness, headache, and somnolence . Bilastine is associated with Q/T prolongation. The no observed adverse effect level of bilastine is 1200 mg/kg/day in rats and 125 mg/kg/day in dogs .

The adverse effects associated with overdosage of montelukast include abdominal pain, somnolence, thirst, headache, vomiting, psychomotor hyperactivity, and less frequently, convulsion.

The oral LD50 value determined for mice and rats is >5000 mg/kg.

Montelukast has not been studied in pregnant women. Consequently, it should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.

Additionally, as it is unknown whether montelukast is excreted into human breast milk, there is also caution regarding the use of the medication in nursing mothers.

The plasma half-life of montelukast is somewhat prolonged in elderly patients, although no dosage adjustment is generally necessary.

Precaution

Co-administration of Bilastine and P-glycoprotein inhibitors (e.g. Ketoconazole, Erythromycin, Cyclosporine, Ritonavir or Diltiazem) should be avoided in patients with moderate or severe renal impairment.

Montelukast is not indicated for use in the reversal of bronchospasm in acute asthma attacks (in case of status asthmaticus). Patients with known aspirin sensitivity should continue avoidance of aspirin or other NSAID, while taking Montelukast.

In rare cases, patients on therapy with Montelukast may present with systemic eosinophilia, sometimes presenting with clinical features of vasculitis consistent with churg-strauss syndrome, a condition which is often treated with systemic corticosteroid therapy. Physician should be alert to eosinophilia, vasculitic rash, worsening pulmonary symptoms, cardiac complications, and/or neuropathy presenting in their patients. A causal association between Montelukast and these underlying conditions has not been established.

Interaction

Concomitant intake of Bilastine and Ketoconazole or Erythromycin or Diltiazem increased C max of Bilastine. The psychomotor performance after concomitant intake of alcohol and Bilastine was similar to that observed after intake of alcohol and placebo. Concomitant intake of Bilastine and Lorazepam 3 mg for 8 days did not potentiate the depressant CNS effects of Lorazepam.

Montelukast has been administered with other therapies routinely used in the prophylaxis and chronic treatment of asthma with no apparent increase in adverse reactions. In drug interaction studies, the recommended clinical dose of montelukast did not have clinically important effects on the pharmacokinetics of the following drugs: Theophylline, Prednisolone, oral contraceptives (Norethindrone 1 mg/Ethinyl Oestradiol 35 mg), Terfenadine, Digoxin, and Warfarin.

Although additional specific interaction studies were not performed, Montelukast was used concomitantly with a wide range of commonly prescribed drugs in clinical studies without clinically evident adverse interactions. These medications included thyroid hormones, sedative hypnotic, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, benzodiazepines, and decongestants.

Phenobarbital, which induces hepatic metabolism, decreased the AUC of Montelukast approximately 40% following a single 10 mg dose of Montelukast. No dosage adjustment for Montelukast is recommended. It is reasonable to employ appropriate clinical monitoring when potent cytochrome P450 enzyme inducers, such as Phenobarbital or Rifampin, are co-administered with Montelukast.

Volume of Distribution

The steady-state volume of distribution recorded for montelukast is an average between 8 to 11 litres.

Elimination Route

Bilastine has a Tmax of 1.13 h . The absolute bioavailability is 61%. No accumulation observed with daily dosing of 20-100 mg after 14 days. Cmax decreased by 25 % and 33% when taken with a low fat and high fat meal compared to fasted state. Administration with grapefruit juice decreased Cmax by 30%.

It has been observed that montelukast is quickly absorbed following administration by the oral route. The oral bioavailability documented for the drug is 64%. Furthermore, it seems that having a regular meal in the morning or even a high fat snack in the evening does not affect the absorption of montelukast.

Half Life

The mean half life of elimination is 14.5h .

Studies have demonstrated that the mean plasma half-life of montelukast varies from 2.7 to 5.5 hours when observed in healthy young adults.

Clearance

Bilastine has a total clearance is 9.20 L/h and a renal clearance of 8.7 L/h .

The plasma clearance documented for montelukast is an average of 45 mL/min when observed in healthy adults.

Elimination Route

Bilastine is mainly excreted in the feces (66.5%) with some excreted in the urine (28.3%) . Nearly all is excreted as the parent compound.

It has been reported that montelukast and its metabolites are almost exclusively excreted in the bile and into the feces.

Pregnancy & Breastfeeding use

There are no or limited amount of data from the use of Bilastine in pregnant women. Animal studies do not indicate direct or indirect harmful effects with respect to reproductive toxicity, parturition or postnatal development. As a precautionary measure, it is preferable to avoid the use of Bilastine during pregnancy. The excretion of Bilastine in milk has not been studied in humans. A decision must be made taking into account the benefit of breast-feeding for the child and the benefit of Bilastine therapy for the mother.

Pregnancy: Montelukast crosses the placenta following oral dosing in rats and rabbits. There are, however, no adequate and well controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, Montelukast should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.

Lactation: It is not known if Montelukast is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when Montelukast is given to a nursing mother.

Contraindication

Bilastine is contraindicated in patients with hypersensitivity to the active substance or to any of the excipients of the tablet.

Montelukast is contraindicated to patients with hypersensitivity to any component of this product.

Special Warning

Paediatric use: Safety and efficacy of Montelukast has been established in adequate and well controlled studies in paediatric patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis between age 1 to 14 years. Long term trials evaluatingthe effect of chronic administration of Montelukast on linear growth in paediatric patients have not been conducted.

Geriatric use: Of the total number of subjects in clinical studies of Montelukast, 3.5% were 65 years of age and over and 0.4% were 75 years of age and over. No overall differences in safety or effectiveness were observed between these subjects and younger subjects. But greater sensitivity of some older individuals cannot be ruled out.

Acute Overdose

In clinical trials, after administration of Bilastine at doses 10 to 11 times the therapeutic dose (220 mg as single dose; or 200 mg/day for 7 days) frequency of treatment-emergent adverse events was two times higher than with placebo. The adverse reactions most frequently reported were dizziness, headache and nausea. No serious adverse events and no significant prolongation in the QTc interval were reported.

Symptoms: Abdominal pain, somnolence, thirst, headache, vomiting, and psychomotor hyperactivity.

Management: Supportive and symptomatic treatment. If indicated, unabsorbed material should be removed from the GI tract.

Storage Condition

Keep below 30°C temperature, protected from light and moisture. Keep out of reach of children.

Store at 25° C. Protect from moisture and light.

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