Patient Leaflet Updated 12-Apr-2024 | ADVANZ Pharma
OCALIVA 5mg & 10mg film-coated tablets
Ocaliva 5 mg film-coated tablets
Ocaliva 10 mg film-coated tablets
obeticholic acid
▼This medicine is subject to additional monitoring. This will allow quick identification of new safety information. You can help by reporting any side effects you may get. See the end of section 4 for how to report side effects.
1. What Ocaliva is and what it is used for
2. What you need to know before you take Ocaliva
3. How to take Ocaliva
4. Possible side effects
5. How to store Ocaliva
6. Contents of the pack and other information
Ocaliva contains the active substance obeticholic acid (farnesoid X-receptor agonist) which helps to improve how your liver works by reducing the production and build up of bile in the liver and also reducing inflammation.
This medicine is used to treat adult patients with a type of liver disease known as primary biliary cholangitis, either by itself or together with another medicine, ursodeoxycholic acid.
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking Ocaliva.
Your doctor may need to interrupt or discontinue Ocaliva if your liver function gets worse. Your doctor will do blood tests to monitor the health of your liver when you start treatment and regularly from there on.
Itching may occur when taking Ocaliva and may sometimes become severe (intense itching or itching over much of your body). Your doctor may prescribe other medicines for treatment of itching or adjust your dose of Ocaliva. If you experience itching that is difficult to tolerate, talk to your doctor.
This medicine is not for use in children or adolescents.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently taken or might take any other medicines.
In particular, tell your doctor if you are taking so-called bile acid binding resins (cholestyramine, colestipol, colesevelam) used to lower blood cholesterol levels as they may lessen the effect of Ocaliva. If you take any of these medicines, take Ocaliva at least 4 to 6 hours before or 4 to 6 hours after taking bile acid binding resin, giving as much time as possible.
The levels of some medicines such as theophylline (a medicine to help breathing) or tizanidine (a medicine to relieve the stiffness and restriction of muscles) may be increased and need to be monitored by your doctor while taking Ocaliva. Your doctor may need to monitor how well your blood clots when taking medicines such as warfarin (a medicine to help your blood flow) with Ocaliva.
There is no experience using Ocaliva in pregnancy. As a precautionary measure, you should not take Ocaliva if you are pregnant.
It is not known if this medicine passes into human milk. Your doctor will determine whether you should discontinue breast-feeding or discontinue/abstain from Ocaliva therapy taking into account the benefit of breast-feeding for the child and the benefit of therapy for you.
This medicine has no or negligible influence on your ability to drive or use machines.
This medicine contains less than 1 mmol sodium (23 mg) per tablet, that is to say essentially ‘sodium-free’.
Always take this medicine exactly as your doctor or pharmacist has told you. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure.
Prior to initiation of treatment with Ocaliva, your hepatic status must be known. If you have primary biliary cholangitis with liver cirrhosis with symptoms such as fluid in the belly or confusion (decompensated liver cirrhosis) or if you have a complete blockage of the biliary tract (liver, gallbladder and bile ducts) this should be determined (see section 2, Do not take Ocaliva, Warnings and precautions).
The recommended starting dose is one 5 mg film-coated tablet once daily.
Your doctor may adjust your dose depending on your liver function or if you experience itching that is difficult to tolerate.
Depending on your body’s response after 6 months, your doctor may increase your dose to 10 mg once daily. Your doctor will discuss any change of dose with you.
You can take Ocaliva with or without food. If you take bile acid binding resins, take this medicine at least 4 to 6 hours before or at least 4 to 6 hours after the bile acid binding resin (see section "Other medicines and Ocaliva").
If you accidentally take too many tablets, you may experience itching or liver-related side effects such as yellowing of the skin. Contact a doctor or go to a hospital for advice immediately.
Skip the missed dose and take your next dose when you would normally take it. Do not take a double dose to make up for a forgotten tablet.
You should continue to take Ocaliva for as long as your doctor tells you to. Do not stop taking the medicine without talking to your doctor first.
If you have any further questions on the use of this medicine, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you experience itching of the skin (pruritus) or if the itch gets worse while on this medicine. In general itching of the skin is a very common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people) side effect that begins within the first month following the start of treatment with Ocaliva and usually becomes less severe over time.
Other possible side effects may be:
Very common side effects
Common side effects (may affect up to 1 in 10 people)
Not known (frequency cannot be estimated from the available data)
The following side effects have been reported since the marketing of Ocaliva, but how often they occur is not known:
If you get any side effects, talk to your doctor, pharmacist or nurse. This includes any possible side effects not listed in this leaflet. You can also report side effects directly via Yellow Card Scheme at Website: www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard or search for MHRA Yellow Card in the Google Play or Apple App Store.
By reporting side effects you can help provide more information on the safety of this medicine.
Keep this medicine out of the sight and reach of children.
Do not use this medicine after the expiry date which is stated on the carton and bottle after “EXP”. The expiry date refers to the last day of that month.
This medicinal product does not require any special storage conditions.
Do not throw away any medicines via wastewater or household waste. Ask your pharmacist how to throw away medicines you no longer use. These measures will help protect the environment.
Pack sizes
1 bottle with 30 or 100 film-coated tablets.
Not all pack sizes may be marketed.
For any information about this medicine, please contact the local representative of the Marketing Authorisation Holder:
This leaflet was last revised in 03/2024
This medicine has been given ‘conditional approval’. This means that there is more evidence to come about this medicine.
The European Medicines Agency will review new information on this medicine at least every year and this leaflet will be updated as necessary.
Other sources of information
Detailed information on this medicine is available on the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency web site: http://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/medicines-and-healthcare-products-regulatory-agency.
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