Toggle menu
Toggle preferences menu
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

Oxcarbazepine

From Pharmacopedia
Oxcarbazepine
Trileptal (IR), Oxtellar XR

Experience

👥 No personal reports yet
No clinical reports yet

Log in to add your own experience.

Problems

No problems yet. Be the first to suggest one.

+ Add a problem

Titration strategies

No titration strategies yet. Be the first to suggest one.

+ Add a titration strategy

Effects

No effects listed yet. Be the first to suggest one.

+ Add an effect

Relevant anecdote

No anecdotes yet. Share a relevant one.

+ Add an anecdote

Relevant Literature

No literature entries yet.

Log in to submit relevant literature.

Summary
Common uses
Partial-onset seizures (FDA, adult monotherapy and adjunct, pediatric ≥2)0, Trigeminal neuralgia (off-label, often preferred over carbamazepine for better tolerability)0, Bipolar I disorder (off-label, similar utility to carbamazepine)0
Pharmacy
Starting dose
Adult monotherapy: 300 mg PO BID, titrate by 300 mg every 3 days. Pediatric: weight-based titration starting 8-10 mg/kg/day divided BID
Preparations
IR tablets 150, 300, 600 mg; oral suspension 60 mg/mL; XR tablets 150, 300, 600 mg (Oxtellar)
US FDA Max
2400 mg/day (adult)
Pharmacology
Routes
Oral
Onset
Anticonvulsant effect within days at therapeutic plasma level
Duration
BID dosing (IR); once-daily (XR)
Half-life
Oxcarbazepine 2 hours; 10-monohydroxy active metabolite (MHD) ~9 hours (the agent that produces essentially all of the clinical effect)[2]
Bioavailability
~100% (oral)[2]
Pregnancy
Teratogenic signal less than carbamazepine but present; folate supplementation and effective contraception are appropriate in reproductive-age patients[2]
Legal status
Rx-only in US
Purported mechanism
The 10-monohydroxy active metabolite (MHD) is the clinically active species, a voltage-gated sodium channel blocker in the inactivated state. Compared to its parent compound carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine has substantially less CYP3A4 autoinduction, fewer cytochrome-mediated interactions, no clinically significant aplastic anemia or agranulocytosis signal, and a cleaner overall tolerability profile.0 Retains the HLA-B*15:02 cross-sensitivity of carbamazepine for Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis risk in Asian populations; CPIC and FDA recommend pre-treatment HLA-B*15:02 testing. Hyponatremia is more common than with carbamazepine, particularly in elderly patients; sodium monitoring during titration is standard[1].

References

  1. CPIC Guideline for HLA Genotype and Use of Carbamazepine and Oxcarbazepine, 2017. https://cpicpgx.org/guidelines/guideline-for-carbamazepine-and-hla-b/
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 FDA Prescribing Information, Trileptal (oxcarbazepine), Novartis, current revision. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2017/021014s036lbl.pdf