EPILEPSY - DOSING
DEPAKOTE ER Offers the Convenience of Once-daily Dosing for Epilepsy1
Depakote ER Once-Daily Dosing Recommendations in Epilepsy:
| Initial Dose (CPS) |
10-15 mg/kg/day |
| Increase Dose |
5-10 mg/kg/week |
| Maximum Recommended Dose |
60 mg/kg/day |
| Therapeutic Blood Range |
50-100 µg/mL |
- Initiation of therapy for absence seizures is 15 mg/kg/day.
- In adult patients and children 10 years of age or older with CPS Depakote ER has not been systematically studied as initial therapy. Patients should initiate therapy at 10 to 15 mg/kg/day.
- The dosage in CPS and absence should be increased by 5 to 10 mg/kg/week to achieve optimal clinical response
- Ordinarily, optimal clinical response is achieved at daily doses below 60 mg/kg/day. If satisfactory clinical response has not been achieved, plasma levels should be measured to determine whether or not they are in the usually accepted therapeutic range (50 to 100 µg/mL).
- Depakote ER may be added to the patient's regimen at a dosage of 10 to 15 mg/kg/day. The dosage may be increased by 5 to 10 mg/kg/week to achieve optimal clinical response
- In a study of adjunctive therapy for complex partial seizures in which patients were receiving either carbamazepine or phenytoin in addition to Depakote, no adjustment of carbamazepine or phenytoin dosage was needed. However, since valproate may interact with these or other concurrently administered antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) as well as other drugs, periodic plasma concentration determinations of concomitant AEDs are recommended during the early course of therapy
- To convert to Depakote ER monotherapy, concomitant antiepileptic drug dosage can ordinarily be reduced by approximately 25% every 2 weeks.
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