Active Ingredient: Entacapone
Entacapone is indicated as an adjunct to standard preparations of levodopa/benserazide or levodopa/carbidopa for use in adult patients with Parkinson’s disease and end-of-dose motor fluctuations, who cannot be stabilised on those combinations.
For this indication, competent medicine agencies globally authorize below treatments:
Oral, 200 milligrams entacapone, divided daily, 1 to 10 doses in total.
200 mg is taken with each levodopa/dopa decarboxylase inhibitor dose. The maximum recommended dose is 200 mg ten times daily, i.e. 2,000 mg of entacapone.
Entacapone enhances the effects of levodopa. Hence, to reduce levodopa-related dopaminergic adverse reactions, e.g. dyskinesias, nausea, vomiting and hallucinations, it is often necessary to adjust levodopa dosage within the first days to first weeks after initiating entacapone treatment. The daily dose of levodopa should be reduced by about 10–30% by extending the dosing intervals and/or by reducing the amount of levodopa per dose, according to the clinical condition of the patient.
If entacapone treatment is discontinued, it is necessary to adjust the dosing of other antiparkinsonian treatments, especially levodopa, to achieve a sufficient level of control of the parkinsonian symptoms.
Entacapone increases the bioavailability of levodopa from standard levodopa/benserazide preparations slightly (5–10%) more than from standard levodopa/carbidopa preparations. Hence, patients who are taking standard levodopa/benserazide preparations may need a larger reduction of levodopa dose when entacapone is initiated.
Entacapone can be taken with or without food.
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