Dosing
Convenient oral dosing
Patients can be started at any time after diagnosis of ALS1
Criteria for patients in clinical trials included:
- Patients with familial or sporadic ALS
-
Disease duration < 5 years
- Forced vital capacity (VCF) ≥ 60%
Prescribe one 50-mg tablet to be taken every 12 hours, at least 1 hour before or
2 hours after a meal 1
An early, efficient diagnosis can offer clear advantages
- Reduces patient uncertainty for the patient.
-
Prevents long wait for exclusionary tests to be performed.
-
Speeds up referral to ALS clinics for specialized care.
- Can
result in early treatment with Rilutek.
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Important Treatment Considerations
- Evaluate serum ALT levels every month during the first 3 months
of treatment, and every 3 months during the remainder of the first year. Thereafter,
serum ALT levels should be periodically evaluated more frequently in patients who
develop elevations. Rilutek should be discontinued if ALT levels increase to 5 times
ULN or if clinical jaundice develops.
- Advise patients about the potential for dizziness, vertigo, or
somnolence and not to drive or operate machinery until they have sufficient experience
on Rilutek.
- Advise patients to report any febrile illness; measure WBCs.
- Use Rilutek with caution in patients with concomitant liver insufficiency;
caution should be exercised when prescribing Rilutek to patients taking drugs that
are potentially hepatotoxic or highly protein bound:
- Interactions may also occur when riluzole is given concurrently
with agents that affect hepatic CYP 1A2 activity.*
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