Allevia 120mg tablets is indicated in adults and children 12 years and older for the relief of symptoms associated with allergic rhinitis.

Posology

Adults

The recommended dose of fexofenadine hydrochloride for adults is 120 mg once daily taken before a meal.

Fexofenadine is a pharmacologically active metabolite of terfenadine.

Paediatric population

Children aged 12 years and over

The recommended dose of fexofenadine hydrochloride for children aged 12 years and over is 120 mg once daily taken before a meal.

Children under 12 years of age

The efficacy and safety of fexofenadine hydrochloride 120 mg has not been studied in children under 12.

Special populations

Studies in special risk groups (elderly, renally or hepatically impaired patients) indicate that it is not necessary to adjust the dose of fexofenadine hydrochloride in these patients.

The medicinal product is contraindicated in patients with hypersensitivity to the active substance or to any of the excipients listed in section 6.1.

As with most new medicinal products there is only limited data in the elderly and renally or hepatically impaired patients. Allevia 120 mg should only be administered in these special groups on the advice of a doctor.

Patients with a history of or ongoing cardiovascular disease should be warned that antihistamines as a medicine class have been associated with adverse reactions such as tachycardia and palpitations (see section 4.8) and should use Allevia 120 mg only on the advice of their doctor.

Allevia 120 mgs should not be used in children under 12 years of age.

In children from 6 to 11 years of age: fexofenadine hydrochloride 30 mg tablet (prescription only medicine) is the appropriate formulation for administration and dosing in this population.

Fexofenadine does not undergo hepatic biotransformation and therefore will not interact with other medicinal products through hepatic mechanisms.

Fexofenadine is a P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and organic-anion-transporting polypeptide (OATP) substrate. Concomitant use of fexofenadine with P-gp inhibitors or inducers can affect the exposure to fexofenadine. Coadministration of fexofenadine hydrochloride with P-gp inhibitors, erythromycin or ketoconazole has been found to result in a 2-3 times increase in the level of fexofenadine in plasma. The changes were not accompanied by any effects on the QT interval and were not associated with any increase in adverse reactions compared to the medicinal products given singly.

A clinical drug-drug interaction study showed that co-administration of apalutamide (a weak inducer of P-gp) and a single oral dose of 30 mg fexofenadine resulted in a 30 % decrease in AUC of fexofenadine.

No interaction between fexofenadine and omeprazole was observed. However, the administration of an antacid containing aluminium and magnesium hydroxide gels 15 minutes prior to fexofenadine hydrochloride caused a reduction in bioavailability, most likely due to binding in the gastrointestinal tract. It is advisable to leave 2 hours between administration of fexofenadine hydrochloride and aluminium and magnesium hydroxide containing antacids.

Pregnancy

There are no adequate data from the use of fexofenadine hydrochloride in pregnant women. Limited animal studies do not indicate direct or indirect harmful effects with respect to effects on pregnancy, embryonal/foetal development, parturition or postnatal development (see section 5.3). Allevia 120 mg should not be used during pregnancy unless on the advice of a doctor..

Lactation

There are no data on the content of human milk after administering fexofenadine hydrochloride. However, when terfenadine was administered to nursing mothers fexofenadine was found to cross into human breast milk. Therefore Allevia 120 mg is not recommended for mothers breast-feeding their babies. Breast-feeding women should only use Allevia 120 mg if advised to do so by a doctor.

Fertility

No data on the effect of fexofenadine hydrochloride on human fertility are available. In mice, treatment with fexofenadine hydrochloride showed no effect on fertility (see section 5.3).

On the basis of the pharmacodynamic profile and reported adverse reactions it is unlikely that fexofenadine hydrochloride tablets will produce an effect on the ability to drive or use machines. In objective tests, Allevia 120 mg has been shown to have no significant effects on central nervous system function. This means that patients may drive or perform tasks that require concentration. However, in order to identify sensitive people who have an unusual reaction to medicinal products, it is advisable to check the individual response before driving or performing complicated tasks.

The following frequency rating has been used, when applicable:

very common ≥ 1/10; common ≥ 1/100 and <1/10; uncommon ≥ 1/1,000 and <1/100; rare ≥ 1/10,000 and <1/1,000; very rare <1/10,000 and not known (frequency cannot be estimated from the available data).

Within each frequency grouping, undesirable effects are presented in order of decreasing seriousness.

In adults, the following undesirable effects have been reported in clinical trials, with an incidence similar to that observed with placebo:

Nervous system disorders

Common: headache, drowsiness, dizziness.

Gastrointestinal disorders

Common: nausea.

General disorders and administration site conditions

Uncommon: fatigue.

In adults, the following undesirable effects have been reported in post-marketing surveillance. The frequency with which they occur is not known (cannot be estimated from available data):

Immune system disorders

Hypersensitivity reactions with manifestations such as angioedema, chest tightness, dyspnoea, flushing and systemic anaphylaxis.

Psychiatric disorders

Insomnia, nervousness, sleep disorders or nightmares/excessive dreaming (paroniria).

Heart pathologies

Tachycardia, palpitations.

Gastrointestinal disorders

Diarrhoea.

Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders

Rash, urticaria, pruritus.

Eye disorders

Vision blurred.

Reporting of suspected adverse reactions

It is important to report suspected adverse reactions that occur after the medicinal product has been authorised as it enables the product's risk/benefit ratio to be continuously monitored. Healthcare professionals are asked to report any suspected adverse reactions via the Yellow Card Scheme at: www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard or search for MHRA Yellow Card in the Google Play or Apple App Store.

Dizziness, drowsiness, fatigue and dry mouth have been reported with overdose of fexofenadine hydrochloride. Single doses up to 800 mg and doses up to 690 mg twice daily for a month or 240 mg once daily for a year have been administered to healthy subjects without the development of clinically significant adverse reactions as compared with placebo. The maximum tolerated dose of fexofenadine hydrochloride has not been established.

Standard measures should be considered to remove any unabsorbed medicinal product. Symptomatic and supportive treatment is recommended. Haemodialysis does not effectively remove fexofenadine hydrochloride from blood.

Pharmacotherapeutic group: Antihistamines for systemic use, ATC code: R06AX26

Action mechanism

Fexofenadine hydrochloride is a non-sedating H₁ antihistamine. Fexofenadine is a pharmacologically active metabolite of terfenadine.

Clinical efficacy and safety

Human histamine wheal and flare studies following single and twice daily doses of fexofenadine hydrochloride demonstrate that the medicinal product exhibits an antihistaminic effect beginning within one hour, achieving maximum at six hours and lasting 24 hours. There was no evidence of tolerance to these effects after 28 days of dosing. A positive dose-response relationship between doses of 10 mg to 130 mg taken orally was found to exist. In this model of antihistaminic activity, it was found that doses of at least 130 mg were required to achieve a consistent effect that was maintained over a 24 hour period. Maximum inhibition in skin wheal and flare areas were greater than 80%. Clinical studies conducted in seasonal allergic rhinitis have shown that a dose of 120 mg is sufficient for 24 hour efficacy.

No significant differences in QTc intervals were observed in seasonal allergic rhinitis patients given fexofenadine hydrochloride up to 240 mg twice daily for 2 weeks when compared to placebo. Also, no significant change in QTc intervals was observed in healthy subjects given fexofenadine hydrochloride up to 60 mg twice daily for 6 months, 400 mg twice daily for 6.5 days and 240 mg once daily for a year, when compared to placebo. Fexofenadine at concentrations 32 times greater than the therapeutic concentration in man had no effect on the delayed rectifier K+ channel cloned from human heart.

Fexofenadine hydrochloride (5-10 mg/kg po) inhibited antigen induced bronchospasm in sensitised guinea pigs and inhibited histamine release at supratherapeutic concentrations (10-100 μ M) from peritoneal mast cells.

Absorption

Fexofenadine hydrochloride is rapidly absorbed into the body following oral administration, with Tmax occurring at approximately 1-3 hours post dose. The mean Cmax value was approximately 427 ng/mL following the administration of a 120 mg dose once daily.

Distribution

Fexofenadine is 60-70% plasma protein bound.

Biotransformation and elimination

Fexofenadine undergoes negligible metabolism (hepatic or non-hepatic), as it was the only major compound identified in urine and faeces of animals and man. The plasma concentration profiles of fexofenadine follow a bi-exponential decline with a terminal elimination half-life ranging from 11 to 15 hours after multiple dosing. The single and multiple dose pharmacokinetics of fexofenadine are linear for oral doses up to 120 mg BID. A dose of 240 mg BID produced slightly greater than proportional increase (8.8%) in steady state area under the curve, indicating that fexofenadine pharmacokinetics are practically linear at these doses between 40 mg and 240 mg taken daily. The major route of elimination is believed to be via biliary excretion while up to 10% of ingested dose is excreted unchanged through the urine.

Dogs tolerated 450 mg/kg administered twice daily for 6 months and showed no toxicity other than occasional emesis. Also, in single dose dog and rodent studies, no treatment-related gross findings were observed following necropsy.

Radiolabelled fexofenadine hydrochloride in tissue distribution studies of the rat indicated that fexofenadine did not cross the blood-brain barrier.

Fexofenadine hydrochloride was found to be non-mutagenic in various in vitro and in vivo mutagenicity tests.

The carcinogenic potential of fexofenadine hydrochloride was assessed using terfenadine studies with supporting pharmacokinetic studies showing fexofenadine hydrochloride exposure (via plasma AUC values). No evidence of carcinogenicity was observed in rats and mice given terfenadine (up to 150 mg/kg/day).

In a reproductive toxicity study in mice, fexofenadine hydrochloride did not impair fertility, was not teratogenic and did not impair pre- or postnatal development.

Tablet core

microcrystalline cellulose; pregelatinised maize starch; croscarmellose sodium; magnesium stearate

Film coat

hypromellose; povidone K30; titanium dioxide (E171); colloidal anhydrous silica; macrogol 400; red iron oxide (E172), yellow iron oxide (E172).

Not applicable.

3 years

This medicinal product does not require any special storage conditions.

PVC/PE/PVDC/Al or PVC/PVDC/Al blisters, packaged into cardboard boxes. 7, 10, 15, 20, 30 tablets per package.

Allevia 120 mgs are peach coloured, capsule shaped tablets marked with “ 012” on one side and a scripted “ e” on the other.

Not all pack sizes may be marketed

No special instructions.