Acarbose
Brand names: GLUCOBAY PRECOSE
Therapeutic Indications
Acarbose is indicated for:
Diabetes mellitus
Irrespective of gender only Adults (18 years old or older)
Acarbose is recommended for the treatment of non-insulin dependent (NIDDM) diabetes mellitus in patients inadequately controlled on diet alone, or on diet and oral hypoglycaemic agents.
For this indication, the medical literature mentions below treatments (click for details):
Treatment 1: Oral - 150-600 mg in 3 divided doses daily
Contraindications
Active ingredient Acarbose is contraindicated in the following cases:
Severe renal impairment
No gender/age discrimination
As acarbose has not been studied in patients with severe renal impairment, it should not be used in patients with a creatinine clearance <25 ml/min/1.73m².
Severe hepatic impairment
No gender/age discrimination
Acarbose is contra-indicated in patients with severe hepatic impairment.
Breastfeeding
No gender/age discrimination
After the administration of radioactively marked acarbose to nursing rats, a small amount of radioactivity was recovered in the milk. To date there have been no similar findings in humans. Nevertheless, as the possibility of drug induced effects on nursing infants can not be excluded, the prescription of acarbose is not recommended during breastfeeding.
Pregnancy
No gender/age discrimination
Acarbose should not be administered during pregnancy as no information is available from clinical studies on its use in pregnant women.
Inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal obstruction
No gender/age discrimination
Acarbose is contra-indicated in pregnancy and in nursing mothers, in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, colonic ulceration, partial intestinal obstruction or in patients predisposed to intestinal obstruction. In addition, acarbose should not be used in patients who have chronic intestinal diseases associated with marked disorders of digestion or absorption and in patients who suffer from states which may deteriorate as a result of increased gas formation in the intestine, e.g. larger hernias.