Promethazine Hydrochloride and Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide (Page 2 of 3)

Use In Pediatric Patients

PROMETHAZINE PRODUCTS ARE CONTRAINDICATED FOR USE IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS LESS THAN TWO YEARS OF AGE.

CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED WHEN ADMINISTERING PROMETHAZINE PRODUCTS TO PEDIATRIC PATIENTS 2 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER BECAUSE OF THE POTENTIAL FOR FATAL RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION. RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION AND APNEA, SOMETIMES ASSOCIATED WITH DEATH, ARE STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH PROMETHAZINE PRODUCTS AND ARE NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO INDIVIDUALIZED WEIGHT-BASED DOSING, WHICH MIGHT OTHERWISE PERMIT SAFE ADMINISTRATION. CONCOMITANT ADMINISTRATION OF PROMETHAZINE PRODUCTS WITH OTHER RESPIRATORY DEPRESSANTS HAS AN ASSOCIATION WITH RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION, AND SOMETIMES DEATH, IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS.

ANTIEMETICS ARE NOT RECOMMENDED FOR TREATMENT OF UNCOMPLICATED VOMITING IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS, AND THEIR USE SHOULD BE LIMITED TO PROLONGED VOMITING OF KNOWN ETIOLOGY. THE EXTRAPYRAMIDAL SYMPTOMS WHICH CAN OCCUR SECONDARY TO PROMETHAZINE HYDROCHLORIDE ADMINISTRATION MAY BE CONFUSED WITH THE CNS SIGNS OF UNDIAGNOSED PRIMARY DISEASE, e.g., ENCEPHALOPATHY OR REYE’S SYNDROME. THE USE OF PROMETHAZINE PRODUCTS SHOULD BE AVOIDED IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS WHOSE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS MAY SUGGEST REYE’S SYNDROME OR OTHER HEPATIC DISEASES.

Excessively large dosages of antihistamines, including promethazine hydrochloride, in pediatric patients may cause sudden death (see OVERDOSAGE). Hallucinations and convulsions have occurred with therapeutic doses and overdoses of promethazine hydrochloride in pediatric patients. In pediatric patients who are acutely ill associated with dehydration, there is an increased susceptibility to dystonias with the use of promethazine HCl.

Other Consideration

Administration of promethazine has been associated with reported cholestatic jaundice.

PRECAUTIONS

Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with the drug combination–promethazine and dextromethorphan. It is not known whether this drug combination can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. Promethazine and dextromethorphan should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.

General

Dextromethorphan should be used with caution in sedated patients, in the debilitated, and in patients confined to the supine position.

Drugs having anticholinergic properties should be used with caution in patients with narrow-angle glaucoma, prostatic hypertrophy, stenosing peptic ulcer, pyloroduodenal obstruction, and bladder-neck obstruction.

Promethazine should be used cautiously in persons with cardiovascular disease or with impairment of liver function.

Information For Patients

Promethazine and dextromethorphan may cause marked drowsiness or impair the mental and/or physical abilities required for the performance of potentially hazardous tasks, such as driving a vehicle or operating machinery. Ambulatory patients should be told to avoid engaging in such activities until it is known that they do not become drowsy or dizzy from promethazine and dextromethorphan therapy. Children should be supervised to avoid potential harm in bike riding or in other hazardous activities.

The concomitant use of alcohol or other central nervous system depressants, including narcotic analgesics, sedatives, hypnotics, and tranquilizers, may have an additive effect and should be avoided or their dosage reduced.

Patients should be advised to report any involuntary muscle movements.

Avoid prolonged exposure to the sun.

Drug Interactions

Dextromethorphan

Hyperpyrexia, hypotension, and death have been reported coincident with the coadministration of monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors and products containing dextromethorphan. Thus, concomitant administration of promethazine with dextromethorphan and MAO inhibitors should be avoided (see CONTRAINDICATIONS).

Promethazine

CNS Depressants

Promethazine may increase, prolong, or intensify the sedative action of other central-nervous-system depressants, such as alcohol, sedatives/hypnotics (including barbiturates), narcotics, narcotic analgesics, general anesthetics, tricyclic antidepressants, and tranquilizers; therefore, such agents should be avoided or administered in reduced dosage to patients receiving promethazine HCl. When given concomitantly with promethazine, the dose of barbiturates should be reduced by at least one-half, and the dose of narcotics should be reduced by one-quarter to one-half. Dosage must be individualized. Excessive amounts of promethazine HCl relative to a narcotic may lead to restlessness and motor hyperactivity in the patient with pain; these symptoms usually disappear with adequate control of the pain.

Epinephrine

Because of the potential for promethazine to reverse epinephrine’s vasopressor effect, epinephrine should NOT be used to treat hypotension associated with promethazine overdose.

Anticholinergics

Concomitant use of other agents with anticholinergic properties should be undertaken with caution.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI)

Drug interactions, including an increased incidence of extrapyramidal effects, have been reported when some MAOI and phenothiazines are used concomitantly.

Drug/Laboratory Test Interactions

The following laboratory tests may be affected in patients who are receiving therapy with promethazine hydrochloride:

Pregnancy Tests

Diagnostic pregnancy tests based on immunological reactions between HCG and anti-HCG may result in false-negative or false-positive interpretations.

Glucose Tolerance Test

An increase in blood glucose has been reported in patients receiving promethazine.

Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment Of Fertility

Long-term animal studies have not been performed to assess the carcinogenic potential of promethazine or of dextromethorphan. There are no animal or human data concerning the carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or impairment of fertility with these drugs. Promethazine was nonmutagenic in the Salmonella test system of Ames.

Pregnancy

Teratogenic Effects

Pregnancy category C

Teratogenic effects have not been demonstrated in rat-feeding studies at doses of 6.25 and 12.5 mg/kg of promethazine HCl. These doses are from approximately 2.1 to 4.2 times the maximum recommended total daily dose of promethazine for a 50-kg subject, depending upon the indication for which the drug is prescribed. Daily doses of 25 mg/kg intraperitoneally have been found to produce fetal mortality in rats.

Specific studies to test the action of the drug on parturition, lactation, and development of the animal neonate were not done, but a general preliminary study in rats indicated no effect on these parameters. Although antihistamines have been found to produce fetal mortality in rodents, the pharmacological effects of histamine in the rodent do not parallel those in man. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies of promethazine in pregnant women.

Promethazine and dextromethorphan should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the risk to the fetus.

Nonteratogenic Effects

Promethazine administered to a pregnant woman within two weeks of delivery may inhibit platelet aggregation in the newborn.

Labor And Delivery

Limited data suggest that use of promethazine HCl during labor and delivery does not have an appreciable effect on the duration of labor or delivery and does not increase the risk of need for intervention in the newborn. The effect on later growth and development of the newborn is unknown. See also “Nonteratogenic Effects“.

Nursing Mothers

It is not known whether promethazine or dextromethorphan is excreted in human milk.

Caution should be exercised when promethazine and dextromethorphan is administered to a nursing woman.

Pediatric Use

PROMETHAZINE HYDROCHLORIDE AND DEXTROMETHORPHAN HYDROBROMIDE SYRUP IS CONTRAINDICATED FOR USE IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS LESS THAN TWO YEARS OF AGE (see WARNINGS – Black Box Warning and Use in Pediatric Patients).

Promethazine hydrochloride and dextromethorphan hydrobromide syrup should be used with caution in pediatric patients 2 years of age and older (see WARNINGS – Use in Pediatric Patients).

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