SUMMARY OF PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS

1 NAME OF THE MEDICINAL PRODUCT

Carnitor 330 mg Tablets

2    QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE COMPOSITION

Each tablet contains levocarnitine 330 mg For a full list of excipients, see section 6.1.

3    PHARMACEUTICAL FORM

White, round, standard, biconvex tablets approximately 13mm in diameter.

4.    CLINICAL PARTICULARS

4.1.    Therapeutic indications

Indicated for the treatment of primary and secondary carnitine deficiency in adults and children over 12 years of age.

4.2.    Posology and method of administration

For oral administration only.

Adults and children over 12 years of age:

The tablets should be given in divided doses.

It is advisable to monitor therapy by measuring free and acyl carnitine levels in both plasma and urine.

The management of inborn errors of metabolism

The dosage required depends upon the specific inborn error of metabolism concerned and the severity of presentation at the time of treatment. However, the following can be considered as a general guide.

An oral dosage of up to 200 mg/kg/day in divided doses (2-4) is recommended for chronic use in some disorders, with lower doses sufficing in other conditions. If clinical and biochemical symptoms do not improve, the dose may be increased on a short term basis. Higher doses of up to 400 mg/kg/day may be necessary in acute metabolic decompensation or the i.v. route may be required.

Haemodialysis - maintenance therapy

If significant clinical benefit has been gained by a first course of intravenous Carnitor then maintenance therapy can be considered using 1g per day of Carnitor orally. On the day of the dialysis oral Carnitor has to be administered at the end of the session.

4.3. Contraindications

Hypersensitivity to any of the constituents of the product.

4.4 Special warnings and precautions for use

While improving glucose utilisation, the administration of levocarnitine to diabetic patients receiving either insulin or hypoglycaemic oral treatment may result in hypoglycaemia.

Plasma glucose levels must be monitored regularly in order to adjust the hypoglycaemic treatment immediately, if required.

The safety and efficacy of oral levocarnitine has not been evaluated in patients with renal insufficiency. Chronic administration of high doses of oral levocarnitine in patients with severely compromised renal function or in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on dialysis may result in an accumulation of the potentially toxic metabolites, trimethylamine (TMA) and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), since these metabolites are usually excreted in the urine. This situation has not been observed following intravenous administration of levocarnitine.

There have been very rare reports of International Normalised Ratio (INR) increased in patients treated concomitantly with levocarnitine and coumarinic drugs. See section 4.5 ‘Interactions’ and Section 4.8 ‘Undesirable Effects’.

4.5 Interaction with other medicinal products and other forms of interaction

There have been very rare reports of International Normalised Ratio (INR) increased in patients treated concomitantly with levocarnitine and coumarinic drugs (see Section 4.4 ‘Special Warnings and Precautions’ and Section 4.8 ‘Undesirable Effects’). INR - or other appropriate test of coagulation - should be checked weekly until they become stable, and monthly thereafter, in patients taking such anticoagulants together with levocarnitine.

4.6. Pregnancy and lactation

Reproductive studies were performed in rats and rabbits. There was no evidence of a teratogenic effect in either species. In the rabbit but not in the rat there was a statistically insignificant greater number of post implantation losses at the highest dose tested (600 mg/kg daily) as compared with control animals. The significance of these findings in man is unknown. There is no experience of use in pregnant patients with primary systemic carnitine deficiency. Taking into account the serious consequences to a pregnant women who has primary systemic carnitine deficiency stopping treatment, the risk to the mother of discontinuing treatment seems greater than the theoretical risk to the foetus if treatment is continued.

Levocarnitine is a normal component of human milk. Use of levocarnitine supplementation in nursing mothers has not been studied.

4.7. Effects on ability to drive and use machines

None known.

4.8 Undesirable effects

Adverse reactions from any source are listed in the table below by MedRA system organ class. Within each system organ class, the adverse drug reactions are ranked by frequency. Within each frequency grouping, adverse reactions are ranked in order of decreasing seriousness. In addition the corresponding frequency category for each adverse drug reaction is based on the following conventions: 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).

SYSTEM ORGAN CLASS	FREQUENCY	ADVERSE REACTION
Gastrointestinal disorders	Very rare	Vomiting Nausea Diarrhoea Abdominal cramp
General disorders and administration site conditions	Very rare	Body odour
Investigations	Very rare	International Normalised Ratio increased *

* There have been very rare reports of International Normalised Ratio (INR) increased in patients treated concomitantly with levocarnitine and coumarinic rugs (acenocumarol and warfarin) -see Section 4.4 ‘Special Warnings’ and Section 4.5 ‘Interactions’.

Decreasing the dosage often diminishes or eliminates drug related patient body odour or gastro-intestinal symptoms when present. Tolerance should be monitored very closely during the first week of administration and after any dosage increase.

Reporting of suspected adverse reactions

Reporting suspected adverse reactions after authorisation of the medicinal product is important. It allows continued monitoring of the benefit/risk balance of the medicinal product. Healthcare professionals are asked to report any suspected adverse reactions via the Yellow Card Scheme at: www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard.

4.9. Overdose

There have been no reports of toxicity from levocarnitine overdosage. Overdosage should be treated with supportive care.

5 PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES

5.1    Pharmacodynamic properties

ATC Code: A16AA01 (Amino acids and derivatives)

Levocarnitine is present as a natural constituent in animal tissues, micro-organisms and plants. In man the physiological metabolic requirements are met both by the consumption of food containing carnitine and the endogenous synthesis in the liver and kidneys from lysine with methionine serving as the methyl donor. Only the L-isomer is biologically active, playing an essential role in lipid metabolism as well as in the metabolism of ketone bodies as branched chain-amino-acids. Levocarnitine as a factor is necessary in the transport of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria - facilitating the oxidation of fatty acids rather than their incorporation into triglycerides. By releasing CoA from its thioesters, through the action of CoA; carnitine acetyl transferase, levocarnitinealso enhances the metabolic flux in the Kreb's cycle; with the same mechanism it stimulates the activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase and in skeletal muscle, the oxidation of branched-chain amino acids. Levocarnitine is thus involved, directly or indirectly in several pathways so that its availability should be an important factor controlling not only the oxidative utilisation of fatty acids and ketone bodies but also that of glucose and some amino acids.

5.2    Pharmacokinetic properties

The absorbed levocarnitine is transported to various organ systems via the blood. The presence of membrane-bound proteins in several tissues including red blood cells that bind carnitine, suggest that a transport system in the blood and a cellular system for the collective uptake is present in several tissues. Tissue and serum carnitine concentration depend on several metabolic processes, carnitine biosynthesis and dietary contributions, transport into and out of tissues, degradation and excretion may all affect tissue carnitine concentrations. Following administration, studies have demonstrated that a peak concentration of 71.89±5.13 pM was achieved 6 hours after dosing. The pharmacokinetic parameters showed an absorption phase half life of 1.45 hours and an elimination phase with a half-life of 3.34 hours. The apparent bioavailability was 14%.

The urinary recovery in 14 hours was 6.02% of the administered dose.

5.3 Preclinical safety data

Levocamitine is a naturally occurring body substance in human beings, plants and animals. Camitor products are used to bring the level of levocamitine in the body up to those found naturally. Appropriate pre-clinical studies have been undertaken and show no signs of toxicity at normal therapeutic levels.

6 PHARMACEUTICAL PARTICULARS

6.1 List of excipients

Magnesium stearate (E572) Polyvinylpyrrolidone Microcrystalline cellulose (E460)

6.2. Incompatibilities

None known.

6.3. Shelf Life

Unopened Shelf-life of 60 months (5 years).

6.4 Special precautions for storage

Store below 25°C.

6.5. Nature and contents of container

Blister packed in quantities of 30, 90, 100 and 180.

6.6 Special precautions for disposal

No special instructions.

7. MARKETING AUTHORISATION HOLDER

Sigma Tau Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite SpA

Viale Shakespeare 47-00144 Rome, Italy.

8.    MARKETING AUTHORISATION NUMBER

PL 08381/0002

9.    DATE OF FIRST AUTHORISATION/RENEWAL OF THE AUTHORISATION

15 August 1990 15 October 2000

10 DATE OF REVISION OF THE TEXT

24/04/2014