Levocarnitine (oral)
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Turky Alkathery, M.D. [2]
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Overview
Levocarnitine (oral) is an amino acid supplement that is FDA approved for the treatment of primary systemic carnitine deficiency. Common adverse reactions include diarrhea, nausea, stomach cramps and vomiting.
Adult Indications and Dosage
FDA-Labeled Indications and Dosage (Adult)
Indications
- Levocarnitine tablets, USP are indicated in the treatment of primary systemic carnitine deficiency. In the reported cases, the clinical presentation consisted of recurrent episodes of Reye-like encephalopathy, hypoketotic hypoglycemia, and/or cardiomyopathy. Associated symptoms included hypotonia, muscle weakness and failure to thrive. A diagnosis of primary carnitine deficiency requires that serum, red cell and/or tissue carnitine levels be low and that the patient does not have a primary defect in fatty acid or organic acid oxidation. In some patients, particularly those presenting with cardiomyopathy, carnitine supplementation rapidly alleviated signs and symptoms. Treatment should include, in addition to carnitine, supportive and other therapy as indicated by the condition of the patient.
- Levocarnitine tablets, USP are also indicated for acute and chronic treatment of patients with an inborn error of metabolism which results in a secondary carnitine deficiency.
Dosage
- The recommended oral dosage for adults is 990 mg two or three times a day using the 330 mg tablets, depending on clinical response.
Off-Label Use and Dosage (Adult)
Guideline-Supported Use
- There is limited information regarding Off-Label Guideline-Supported Use of Levocarnitine in adult patients.
Non–Guideline-Supported Use
- There is limited information regarding Off-Label Non–Guideline-Supported Use of Levocarnitine in adult patients.
Pediatric Indications and Dosage
FDA-Labeled Indications and Dosage (Pediatric)
Indications
- Treatment of primary systemic carnitine deficiency.
- Indicated for acute and chronic treatment of patients with an inborn error of metabolism which results in a secondary carnitine deficiency.
Dosage
- The recommended oral dosage for infants and children is between 50 and 100 mg/kg/day in divided doses, with a maximum of 3 g/day. Dosage should begin at 50 mg/kg/day. The exact dosage will depend on clinical response.
Off-Label Use and Dosage (Pediatric)
Guideline-Supported Use
- There is limited information regarding Off-Label Guideline-Supported Use of Levocarnitine in pediatric patients.
Non–Guideline-Supported Use
- There is limited information regarding Off-Label Non–Guideline-Supported Use of Levocarnitine in pediatric patients.
Contraindications
- None known.
Warnings
- None.
Precautions
General
- The safety and efficacy of oral levocarnitine has not been evaluated in patients with renal insufficiency. Chronic administration of high doses of oral levocarnitine in patients with severely compromised renal function or in ESRD patients on dialysis may result in accumulation of the potentially toxic metabolites, trimethylamine (TMA) and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), since these metabolites are normally excreted in the urine.
Adverse Reactions
Clinical Trials Experience
- Various mild gastrointestinal complaints have been reported during the long-term administration of oral L- or D,L-carnitine; these include transient nausea and vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. Mild myasthenia has been described only in uremic patients receiving D,L-carnitine. Decreasing the dosage often diminishes or eliminates drug-related patient body odor or gastrointestinal symptoms when present. Tolerance should be monitored very closely during the first week of administration, and after any dosage increases.
- Seizures have been reported to occur in patients with or without pre-existing seizure activity receiving either oral or intravenous levocarnitine. In patients with pre-existing seizure activity, an increase in seizure frequency and/or severity has been reported.
Postmarketing Experience
- There is limited information regarding Postmarketing experience.
Drug Interactions
- None.
Use in Specific Populations
Pregnancy
- Reproductive studies have been performed in rats and rabbits at doses up to 3.8 times the human dose on the basis of surface area and have revealed no evidence of impaired fertility or harm to the fetus due to levocarnitine. 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.
Pregnancy Category (AUS):
There is no Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (ADEC) guidance on usage of Levocarnitine (oral) in women who are pregnant.
Labor and Delivery
There is no FDA guidance on use of Levocarnitine (oral) during labor and delivery.
Nursing Mothers
- Levocarnitine supplementation in nursing mothers has not been specifically studied.
- Studies in dairy cows indicate that the concentration of levocarnitine in milk is increased following exogenous administration of levocarnitine. In nursing mothers receiving levocarnitine, any risks to the child of excess carnitine intake need to be weighed against the benefits of levocarnitine supplementation to the mother. Consideration may be given to discontinuation of nursing or of levocarnitine treatment.
Pediatric Use
There is no FDA guidance on the use of Levocarnitine (oral) in pediatric settings.
Geriatic Use
There is no FDA guidance on the use of Levocarnitine (oral) in geriatric settings.
Gender
There is no FDA guidance on the use of Levocarnitine (oral) with respect to specific gender populations.
Race
There is no FDA guidance on the use of Levocarnitine (oral) with respect to specific racial populations.
Renal Impairment
There is no FDA guidance on the use of Levocarnitine (oral) in patients with renal impairment.
Hepatic Impairment
There is no FDA guidance on the use of Levocarnitine (oral) in patients with hepatic impairment.
Females of Reproductive Potential and Males
There is no FDA guidance on the use of Levocarnitine (oral) in women of reproductive potentials and males.
Immunocompromised Patients
There is no FDA guidance one the use of Levocarnitine (oral) in patients who are immunocompromised.
Administration and Monitoring
Administration
- Oral.
Monitoring
- Tolerance should be monitored very closely during the first week of administration, and after any dosage increases.
- Monitoring should include periodic blood chemistries, vital signs, plasma carnitine concentrations and overall clinical condition.
IV Compatibility
- There is limited information regarding IV Compatibility.
Overdosage
- There have been no reports of toxicity from levocarnitine overdosage. Levocarnitine is easily removed from plasma by dialysis. The intravenous LD50 of levocarnitine in rats is 5.4 g/kg and the oral LD50 of levocarnitine in mice is 19.2 g/kg. Large doses of levocarnitine may cause diarrhea.
Pharmacology
There is limited information regarding Levocarnitine (oral) Pharmacology in the drug label.
Mechanism of Action
- Levocarnitine is a naturally occurring substance required in mammalian energy metabolism. It has been shown to facilitate long-chain fatty acid entry into cellular mitochondria, thereby delivering substrate for oxidation and subsequent energy production. Fatty acids are utilized as an energy substrate in all tissues except the brain. In skeletal and cardiac muscle, fatty acids are the main substrate for energy production.
- Primary systemic carnitine deficiency is characterized by low concentrations of levocarnitine in plasma, RBC, and/or tissues. It has not been possible to determine which symptoms are due to carnitine deficiency and which are due to an underlying organic acidemia, as symptoms of both abnormalities may be expected to improve with levocarnitine. The literature reports that carnitine can promote the excretion of excess organic or fatty acids in patients with defects in fatty acid metabolism and/or specific organic acidopathies that bioaccumulate acylCoA esters.1-6
- Secondary carnitine deficiency can be a consequence of inborn errors of metabolism. Levocarnitine may alleviate the metabolic abnormalities of patients with inborn errors that result in accumulation of toxic organic acids. Conditions for which this effect has been demonstrated are: glutaric aciduria ll, methyl malonic aciduria, propionic acidemia, and medium chain fatty acylCoA dehydrogenase deficiency.7,8 Autointoxication occurs in these patients due to the accumulation of acylCoA compounds that disrupt intermediary metabolism. The subsequent hydrolysis of the acylCoA compound to its free acid results in acidosis which can be life-threatening. Levocarnitine clears the acylCoA compound by formation of acylcarnitine, which is quickly excreted. carnitine deficiency is defined biochemically as abnormally low plasma concentrations of free carnitine, less than 20 μmol/L at one week post term and may be associated with low tissue and/or urine concentrations. Further, this condition may be associated with a plasma concentration ratio of acylcarnitine/levocarnitine greater than 0.4 or abnormally elevated concentrations of acylcarnitine in the urine. In premature infants and newborns, secondary deficiency is defined as plasma levocarnitine concentrations below age-related normal concentrations.
Structure
- Levocarnitine is a carrier molecule in the transport of long-chain fatty acids across the inner mitochondrial membrane.
- The chemical name of levocarnitine is 3-carboxy-2(R)-hydroxy-N,N,N-trimethyl-1-propanaminium, inner salt. Levocarnitine is a white crystalline, hygroscopic powder. It is readily soluble in water, hot alcohol, and insoluble in acetone. The specific rotation of levocarnitine is between -29° and -32°. Its chemical structure is:
Molecular Formula: C7H15NO3 Molecular Weight: 161.20
- Each levocarnitine tablet, USP intended for oral administration contains 330 mg of levocarnitine. In addition, it also contains the following inactive ingredients: magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, povidone and sodium starch glycolate.
Pharmacodynamics
- There is limited information regarding IV Pharmacodynamics.
Pharmacokinetics
- In a relative bioavailability study in 15 healthy adult male volunteers, levocarnitine tablets were found to be bio-equivalent to levocarnitine oral solution. Following 4 days of dosing with 6 tablets of levocarnitine 330 mg b.i.d. or 2 g of levocarnitine oral solution b.i.d., the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) was about 80 μmol/L and the time to maximum plasma concentration (Tmax) occurred at 3.3 hours.
- The plasma concentration profiles of levocarnitine after a slow 3 minute intravenous bolus dose of 20 mg/kg of levocarnitine were described by a two-compartment model. Following a single i.v. administration, approximately 76% of the levocarnitine dose was excreted in the urine during the 0 -24h interval. Using plasma concentrations uncorrected for endogenous levocarnitine, the mean distribution half life was 0.585 hours and the mean apparent terminal elimination half life was 17.4 hours.
- The absolute bioavailability of levocarnitine from the one oral formulation of levocarnitine, calculated after correction for circulating endogenous plasma concentrations of levocarnitine, was 15.1 ± 5.3% for levocarnitine tablets.
- Total body clearance of levocarnitine (Dose/AUC including endogenous baseline concentrations) was a mean of 4.00 L/h.
- Levocarnitine was not bound to plasma protein or albumin when tested at any concentration or with any species including the human.
- In a pharmacokinetic study where five normal adult male volunteers received an oral dose of [3H-methyl]-L-carnitine following 15 days of a high carnitine diet and additional carnitine supplement, 58 to 65% of the administered radioactive dose was recovered in the urine and feces in 5 to 11 days. Maximum concentration of [3H-methyl]-L-carnitine in serum occurred from 2.0 to 4.5 hr after drug administration. Major metabolites found were trimethylamine N-oxide, primarily in urine (8% to 49% of the administered dose) and [3H]-γ-butyrobetaine, primarily in feces (0.44% to 45% of the administered dose). Urinary excretion of levocarnitine was about 4 to 8% of the dose. Fecal excretion of total carnitine was less than 1% of the administered dose.10
- After attainment of steady state following 4 days of oral administration of levocarnitine tablets (1980 mg q12h) to 15 healthy male volunteers, the mean urinary excretion of levocarnitine during a single dosing interval (12h) was about 9% of the orally administered dose (uncorrected for endogenous urinary excretion).
Nonclinical Toxicology
Carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and impairment of fertility
- Mutagenicity tests performed in Salmonella typhimurium, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe indicate that levocarnitine is not mutagenic. No long-term animal studies have been performed to evaluate the carcinogenic potential of levocarnitine.
Clinical Studies
- There is limited information regarding Clinical Studies.
How Supplied
- Levocarnitine tablets, USP are supplied as white, round compressed tablets debossed “cor” over “160” on one side and other side is plain.
- They are supplied as follows:
- Blister pack of 10 tablets, packaged in boxes of 90 tablets (NDC 64980-130-09).
Storage
- Store at 20o to 25oC (68o to 77oF). [See USP Controlled Room Temperature].
- KEEP THIS AND ALL DRUGS OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN.
Images
Drug Images
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Patient Counseling Information
- There is limited information regarding Patient Counseling Information.
Precautions with Alcohol
Alcohol-Levocarnitine interaction has not been established. Talk to your doctor about the effects of taking alcohol with this medication.
Brand Names
- LEVOCARNITINE ®[1]
Look-Alike Drug Names
- There is limited information regarding Look-Alike Drug Names.
Drug Shortage Status
Price
References
The contents of this FDA label are provided by the National Library of Medicine.