Therapeutic drug monitoring of felbamate].

Olivier Tribut, Danièle Bentué-Ferrer, Marie-Clémence Verdier, le groupe Suivi Thérapeutique Pharmacologique de la Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique

Laboratoire de Pharmacologie Biologique, CHU Pontchaillou, Rennes, France. olivier.tribut@chu-rennes.fr

Thérapie 2010 Jan-Feb

filter terms:

Felbamate is a derivative of meprobamate used in second-line partial epilepsy and in the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Felbamate is well absorbed and has linear kinetics: C(max) and AUC increasing linearly with dose. The metabolism takes place in the liver. Metabolites represent 40 to 60% of excretion and are eliminated via the urine. The half-life is between 15 and 23 hours. Clearance is dependent on renal function. There is a concentration - efficacy and concentration - toxicity relationship. These arguments are in favour of a TDM but the therapeutic range is not clearly established. Potentially fatal side effects can be caused by felbamate (aplastic anemia, acute liver failure), which limits its use because they are dose-independant.

Citation

Olivier Tribut, Danièle Bentué-Ferrer, Marie-Clémence Verdier, le groupe Suivi Thérapeutique Pharmacologique de la Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique. Therapeutic drug monitoring of felbamate]. Thérapie. 2010 Jan-Feb;65(1):35-8