Carafate Drug Information

(sucralfate) Oral Suspension is indicated in the short-term (up to 8 weeks) treatment of active duodenal ulcer.

• A GE AN D A DMINIS T RAT I ON Acti v e Duodenal Ulcer: The recommended adult oral dosage for duodenal ulcer is 1 gram (10 mL) four times per day. CARAFATE Oral Suspension should be administered on an empty stomach. Antacids may be prescribed as needed for relief of pain but should not be taken within one-half hour before or after CARAFATE Oral Suspension. While healing with sucralfate may occur during the first week or two, treatment should be continued for 4 to 8 weeks unless healing has been demonstrated by x-ray or endoscopic examination.
• Elderly: In general, dose selection for an elderly patient should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal, or cardiac function, and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy (See PRECAUTIONS, Geriatric Use ). Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to AbbVie, Inc at 1-800-678-1605 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.

E RSE R EACTI O NS Adverse reactions to sucralfate tablets in clinical trials were minor and only rarely led to discontinuation of the drug. In studies involving over 2700 patients treated with sucralfate, adverse effects were reported in 129 (4.7%). Constipation was the most frequent complaint (2%). Other adverse effects reported in less than 0.5% of the patients are listed below by body system: Gastrointestinal: diarrhea, dry mouth, flatulence, gastric discomfort, indigestion, nausea, vomiting Derm a tolog i cal: pruritus, rash Ner v ous S y s tem: dizziness, insomnia, sleepiness, vertigo Oth e r: back pain, headache Post-marketing cases of hypersensitivity have been reported with the use of sucralfate oral suspension, including anaphylactic reactions, dyspnea, lip swelling, edema of the mouth, pharyngeal edema, pruritus, rash, swelling of the face and urticaria. Cases of bronchospasm, laryngeal edema and respiratory tract edema have been reported with an unknown oral formulation of sucralfate.

Cases of hyperglycemia have been reported with sucralfate. Bezoars have been reported in patients treated with sucralfate. The majority of patients had underlying medical conditions that may predispose to bezoar formation (such as delayed gastric emptying) or were receiving concomitant enteral tube feedings.

Drug Intera c tions Some studies have shown that simultaneous sucralfate administration in healthy volunteers reduced the extent of absorption (bioavailability) of single doses of the following: cimetidine, digoxin, fluoroquinolone antibiotics, ketoconazole, l-thyroxine, phenytoin, quinidine, ranitidine, tetracycline, and theophylline. Subtherapeutic prothrombin times with concomitant warfarin and sucralfate therapy have been reported in spontaneous and published case reports. However, two clinical studies have demonstrated no change in either serum warfarin concentration or prothrombin time with the addition of sucralfate to chronic warfarin therapy.

The mechanism of these interactions appears to be nonsystemic in nature, presumably resulting from sucralfate binding to the concomitant agent in the gastrointestinal tract. In all cases studied to date (cimetidine, ciprofloxacin, digoxin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, and ranitidine), dosing the concomitant medication 2 hours before sucralfate eliminated the interaction. Due to CARAFATE Oral Suspension’s potential to alter the absorption of some drugs, CARAFATE Oral Suspension should be administered separately from other drugs when alterations in bioavailability are felt to be critical.

In these cases, patients should be monitored appropriately.

Pregna n c y Teratogenic effects Teratogenicity studies have been performed in mice, rats, and rabbits at doses up to 50 times the human dose and have revealed no evidence of harm to the fetus due to sucralfate. There are, however, no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, this drug should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.

Pediatric U s e Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established.

Oral Suspension is contraindicated for patients with known hypersensitivity reactions to the active substance or to any of the excipients.

Due to limited experience in humans with overdosage of sucralfate, no specific treatment recommendations can be given. Acute oral studies in animals, however, using doses up to 12 g/kg body weight, could not find a lethal dose. Sucralfate is only minimally absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract.

Risks associated with acute overdosage should, therefore, be minimal. In rare reports describing sucralfate overdose, most patients remained asymptomatic. Those few reports where adverse events were described included symptoms of dyspepsia, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.