Niacor B3 Uses

How do you administer this medicine?
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What is Niacor B3?

Niacor B3, also called nicotinic acid, is a B vitamin (vitamin B3). It occurs naturally in plants and animals, and is also added to many foods as a vitamin supplement. Niacor B3 is also present in many multiple vitamins and nutritional supplements.

Niacor B3 is used to treat and prevent a lack of natural Niacor B3 in the body, and to lower cholesterol and triglycerides (types of fat) in the blood. It is also used to lower the risk of heart attack in people with high cholesterol who have already had a heart attack. Niacor B3 is sometimes used to treat coronary artery disease (also called atherosclerosis).

Niacor B3 may also be used for purposes not listed in this medication guide.

Niacor B3 indications

An indication is a term used for the list of condition or symptom or illness for which the medicine is prescribed or used by the patient. For example, acetaminophen or paracetamol is used for fever by the patient, or the doctor prescribes it for a headache or body pains. Now fever, headache and body pains are the indications of paracetamol. A patient should be aware of the indications of medications used for common conditions because they can be taken over the counter in the pharmacy meaning without prescription by the Physician.
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Therapy with lipid-altering agents should be only one component of multiple risk factor intervention in individuals at significantly increased risk for atherosclerotic vascular disease due to hyperlipidemia. Niacor B3, USP therapy is indicated as an adjunct to diet when the response to a diet restricted in saturated fat and cholesterol and other nonpharmacologic measures alone has been inadequate.

1.
Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets USP are indicated to reduce elevated TC, LDL-C, Apo B and TG levels, and to increase HDL-C in patients with primary hyperlipidemia and mixed dyslipidemia.
2.
In patients with a history of myocardial infarction and hyperlipidemia, Niacor B3, USP is indicated to reduce the risk of recurrent nonfatal myocardial infarction.
3.
In patients with a history of coronary artery disease (CAD) and hyperlipidemia, Niacor B3, USP, in combination with a bile acid binding resin, is indicated to slow progression or promote regression of atherosclerotic disease.
4.
Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets USP in combination with a bile acid binding resin are indicated to reduce elevated TC and LDL-C levels in adult patients with primary hyperlipidemia.
5.
Niacor B3, USP is also indicated as adjunctive therapy for treatment of adult patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia who present a risk of pancreatitis and who do not respond adequately to a determined dietary effort to control them.

Limitations of Use

Addition of Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets USP did not reduce cardiovascular morbidity or mortality among patients treated with simvastatin in a large, randomized controlled trial (AIM-HIGH).

How should I use Niacor B3?

Use Niacor B3 controlled-release tablets as directed by your doctor. Check the label on the medicine for exact dosing instructions.

Ask your health care provider any questions you may have about how to use Niacor B3 controlled-release tablets.

Uses of Niacor B3 in details

There are specific as well as general uses of a drug or medicine. A medicine can be used to prevent a disease, treat a disease over a period or cure a disease. It can also be used to treat the particular symptom of the disease. The drug use depends on the form the patient takes it. It may be more useful in injection form or sometimes in tablet form. The drug can be used for a single troubling symptom or a life-threatening condition. While some medications can be stopped after few days, some drugs need to be continued for prolonged period to get the benefit from it.
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Niacor B3 (nicotinic acid) is used to prevent and treat Niacor B3 deficiency (pellagra). Niacor B3 deficiency may result from certain medical conditions (such as alcohol abuse, malabsorption syndrome, Hartnup disease), poor diet, or long-term use of certain medications (such as isoniazid).

Niacor B3 deficiency can cause diarrhea, confusion (dementia), tongue redness/swelling, and peeling red skin. Niacor B3 is also known as vitamin B3, one of the B-complex vitamins. Vitamins help to support the body's ability to make and break down natural compounds (metabolism) needed for good health. Niacinamide (nicotinamide) is a different form of vitamin B3 and does not work the same as Niacor B3. Do not substitute unless directed by your doctor.

Check the ingredients on the label even if you have used the product before. The manufacturer may have changed the ingredients. Also, products with similar names may contain different ingredients meant for different purposes. Taking the wrong product could harm you.

OTHER USES: This section contains uses of this drug that are not listed in the approved professional labeling for the drug, but may be prescribed by your health care professional. Use this drug for a condition that is listed in this section only if it has been so prescribed by your health care professional.

Niacor B3 may also be used to improve cholesterol and lower fat levels (triglycerides) in the blood under the care of your doctor. It is generally used after non-drug treatments have not been fully successful at lowering cholesterol. Doses for treating these blood fat problems are usually much higher than for dietary problems.

How to use B-3 Niacor B3

Take this medication by mouth with a low-fat meal or snack as directed by your doctor, usually 1-3 times daily. Taking Niacor B3 on an empty stomach increases side effects (such as flushing, upset stomach). Follow all directions on the product package. If your doctor has prescribed this medication, take it as directed. If you are uncertain about any of the information, consult your doctor or pharmacist.

Niacor B3 is available in different formulations (such as immediate and sustained release). Do not switch between strengths, brands, or forms of Niacor B3. Severe liver problems may occur.

Swallow extended-release capsules whole. Do not crush or chew extended-release capsules or tablets. Doing so can release all of the drug at once, increasing the risk of side effects. Also, do not split extended-release tablets unless they have a score line and your doctor or pharmacist tells you to do so. Swallow the whole or split tablet without crushing or chewing.

To lessen the chance of side effects such as flushing, avoid alcohol, hot beverages, and eating spicy foods near the time you take Niacor B3. Taking a plain (non-enteric coated, 325 milligram) aspirin or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (such as ibuprofen, 200 milligrams) 30 minutes before taking Niacor B3 may help prevent flushing. Ask your doctor if this treatment is right for you.

If you also take certain other drugs to lower cholesterol (bile acid-binding resins such as cholestyramine or colestipol), take Niacor B3 at least 4 to 6 hours before or after taking these medications. These products interact with Niacor B3, preventing its full absorption. Continue to take other medications to lower your cholesterol as directed by your doctor.

The dosage is based on your medical condition and response to treatment. If you are taking this for lipid problems, your doctor may direct you to start this medication at a low dose and gradually increase your dose to reduce your risk of side effects. Your dose will need to be increased slowly even if you are already taking Niacor B3 and are being switched from another Niacor B3 product to this product. Follow your doctor's instructions carefully.

Do not stop taking this medicine unless instructed by your doctor. If you stop taking Niacor B3, you may need to return to your original dose and gradually increase it again. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for instructions on restarting your dose if you have not taken your medication for several days.

Use this medication regularly to get the most benefit from it. To help you remember, take it at the same time(s) each day.

It is very important to continue to follow your doctor's advice about diet and exercise.

If your condition persists or worsens, or if you think you may have a serious medical problem, get medical help right away.

Niacor B3 description

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A water-soluble vitamin of the B complex occurring in various animal and plant tissues. It is required by the body for the formation of coenzymes NAD and NADP. It has pellagra-curative, vasodilating, and antilipemic properties. [PubChem]

Niacor B3 dosage

Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets should be taken at bedtime, after a low-fat snack, and doses should be individualized according to patient response. Therapy with Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets must be initiated at 500 mg at bedtime in order to reduce the incidence and severity of side effects which may occur during early therapy. The recommended dose escalation is shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Recommended Dosing

Week(s)

Daily Dose

Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets Dosage

INITIAL

TITRATION

1 to 4

500 mg

1 Niacor B3 Extended-Release 500 mg Tablet at bedtime

SCHEDULE

5 to 8

1000 mg

1 Niacor B3 Extended-Release 1000 mg Tablet or

2 Niacor B3 Extended-Release 500 mg Tablets at bedtime

*

1500 mg

2 Niacor B3 Extended-Release 750 mg Tablets or

3 Niacor B3 Extended-Release 500 mg Tablets at bedtime

*

2000 mg

2 Niacor B3 Extended-Release 1000 mg Tablets or

4 Niacor B3 Extended-Release 500 mg Tablets at bedtime

* After Week 8, titrate to patient response and tolerance. If response to 1000 mg daily is inadequate, increase dose to 1500 mg daily; may subsequently increase dose to 2000 mg daily. Daily dose should not be increased more than 500 mg in a 4-week period, and doses above 2000 mg daily are not recommended. Women may respond at lower doses than men.

Maintenance Dose

The daily dosage of Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets should not be increased by more than 500 mg in any 4-week period. The recommended maintenance dose is 1000 mg (two 500 mg tablets or one 1000 mg tablet) to 2000 mg (two 1000 mg tablets or four 500 mg tablets) once daily at bedtime. Doses greater than 2000 mg daily are not recommended. Women may respond at lower Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablet doses than men.

Single-dose bioavailability studies have demonstrated that two of the 500 mg and one of the 1000 mg tablet strengths are interchangeable but three of the 500 mg and two of the 750 mg tablet strengths are not interchangeable.

Flushing of the skin may be reduced in frequency or severity by pretreatment with aspirin (up to the recommended dose of 325 mg taken 30 minutes prior to Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablet dose). Tolerance to this flushing develops rapidly over the course of several weeks. Flushing, pruritus, and gastrointestinal distress are also greatly reduced by slowly increasing the dose of Niacor B3 and avoiding administration on an empty stomach. Concomitant alcoholic, hot drinks or spicy foods may increase the side effects of flushing and pruritus and should be avoided around the time of Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablet ingestion.

Equivalent doses of Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets should not be substituted for sustained-release (modified-release, timed-release) Niacor B3 preparations or immediate-release (crystalline) Niacor B3. Patients previously receiving other Niacor B3 products should be started with the recommended Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablet titration schedule, and the dose should subsequently be individualized based on patient response.

If Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablet therapy is discontinued for an extended period, reinstitution of therapy should include a titration phase.

Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets should be taken whole and should not be broken, crushed or chewed before swallowing.

Dosage in Patients with Renal or Hepatic Impairment

Use of Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets in patients with renal or hepatic impairment has not been studied. Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets are contraindicated in patients with significant or unexplained hepatic dysfunction. Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets should be used with caution in patients with renal impairment.

Niacor B3 interactions

See also:
What other drugs will affect Niacor B3?

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Drug interactions may change how your medications work or increase your risk for serious side effects. This document does not contain all possible drug interactions. Keep a list of all the products you use (including prescription/nonprescription drugs and herbal products) and share it with your doctor and pharmacist. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicines without your doctor's approval.

Some products that may interact with this drug include: "blood thinners" (such as warfarin, heparins).

Check all prescription and nonprescription medicine labels carefully since vitamins/dietary supplements may also contain Niacor B3 or niacinamide (nicotinamide). These may increase your risk of side effects if taken together. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more details.

This medication may interfere with certain laboratory tests (including urine or blood catecholamines, copper-based urine glucose tests), possibly causing false test results. Make sure laboratory personnel and all your doctors know you use this drug.

Niacor B3 side effects

See also:
What are the possible side effects of Niacor B3?

Because clinical studies are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical studies of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical studies of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.

Clinical Studies Experience

In the placebo-controlled clinical trials database of 402 patients (age range 21 to 75 years, 33% women, 89% Caucasians, 7% Blacks, 3% Hispanics, 1% Asians) with a median treatment duration of 16 weeks, 16% of patients on Niacor B3 extended-release tablets and 4% of patients on placebo discontinued due to adverse reactions. The most common adverse reactions in the group of patients treated with Niacor B3 extended-release tablets that led to treatment discontinuation and occurred at a rate greater than placebo were flushing (6% vs. 0%), rash (2% vs. 0%), diarrhea (2% vs. 0%), nausea (1% vs. 0%), and vomiting (1% vs. 0%). The most commonly reported adverse reactions (incidence > 5% and greater than placebo) in the Niacor B3 extended-release tablets controlled clinical trial database of 402 patients were flushing, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, increased cough and pruritus.

In the placebo-controlled clinical trials, flushing episodes (i.e., warmth, redness, itching and/or tingling) were the most common treatment-emergent adverse reactions (reported by as many as 88% of patients) for Niacor B3 extended-release tablets. Spontaneous reports suggest that flushing may also be accompanied by symptoms of dizziness, tachycardia, palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, burning sensation/skin burning sensation, chills, and/or edema, which in rare cases may lead to syncope. In pivotal studies, 6% (14/245) of Niacor B3 extended-release tablet patients discontinued due to flushing. In comparisons of immediate-release (IR) Niacor B3 and Niacor B3 extended-release tablets, although the proportion of patients who flushed was similar, fewer flushing episodes were reported by patients who received Niacor B3 extended-release tablets. Following 4 weeks of maintenance therapy at daily doses of 1500 mg, the incidence of flushing over the 4 week period averaged 8.6 events per patient for IR Niacor B3 versus 1.9 following Niacor B3 extended-release tablets.

Other adverse reactions occurring in ≥ 5% of patients treated with Niacor B3 extended-release tablets and at an incidence greater than placebo are shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Treatment-Emergent Adverse Reactions by Dose Level in ≥ 5% of Patients and at an Incidence Greater Than Placebo; Regardless of Causality Assessment in Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials
*
Pooled results from placebo-controlled studies; for Niacor B3 extended-release tablets, n = 245 and median treatment duration = 16 weeks. Number of Niacor B3 extended-release tablet patients (n) are not additive across doses.
Adverse reactions are reported at the initial dose where they occur.
The 500 mg/day dose is outside the recommended daily maintenance dosing range.
§
10 patients discontinued before receiving 500 mg, therefore they were not included.

Placebo-Controlled Studies

Niacor B3 Extended-Release Tablets Treatment*

Recommended Daily

Maintenance Doses†

Placebo

(n = 157)

%

500 mg‡

(n = 87)

%

1000 mg

(n = 110)

%

1500 mg

(n = 136)

%

2000 mg

(n = 95)

%

Gastrointestinal Disorders

Diarrhea

13

7

10

10

14

Nausea

7

5

6

4

11

Vomiting

4

0

2

4

9

Respiratory

Cough, Increased

6

3

2

< 2

8

Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue Disorders

Pruritus

2

8

0

3

0

Rash

0

5

5

5

0

Vascular Disorders

Flushing§

19

68

69

63

55

Note: Percentages are calculated from the total number of patients in each column.

In general, the incidence of adverse events was higher in women compared to men.

Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome With Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health Outcomes (AIM-HIGH)

In AIM-HIGH involving 3414 patients (mean age of 64 years, 15% women, 92% Caucasians, 34% with diabetes mellitus) with stable, previously diagnosed cardiovascular disease, all patients received simvastatin, 40 to 80 mg per day, plus ezetimibe 10 mg per day if needed, to maintain an LDL-C level of 40 to 80 mg/dL, and were randomized to receive Niacor B3 extended-release tablets 1500 to 2000 mg/day (n = 1718) or matching placebo (IR Niacor B3, 100 to 150 mg, n = 1696). The incidence of the adverse reactions of “blood glucose increased” (6.4% vs. 4.5%) and “diabetes mellitus” (3.6% vs. 2.2%) was significantly higher in the simvastatin plus Niacor B3 extended-release tablets group as compared to the simvastatin plus placebo group. There were 5 cases of rhabdomyolysis reported, 4 (0.2%) in the simvastatin plus Niacor B3 extended-release tablets group and one (< 0.1%) in the simvastatin plus placebo group.

Postmarketing Experience

Because the below reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is generally not possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure.

The following additional adverse reactions have been identified during post-approval use of Niacor B3 extended-release tablets:

Hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, angioedema, urticaria, flushing, dyspnea, tongue edema, larynx edema, face edema, peripheral edema, laryngismus, and vesiculobullous rash; maculopapular rash; dry skin; tachycardia; palpitations; atrial fibrillation; other cardiac arrhythmias; syncope; hypotension; postural hypotension; blurred vision; macular edema; peptic ulcers; eructation; flatulence; hepatitis; jaundice; decreased glucose tolerance; gout; myalgia; myopathy; dizziness; insomnia; asthenia; nervousness; paresthesia; dyspnea; sweating; burning sensation/skin burning sensation; skin discoloration, and migraine.

Clinical Laboratory Abnormalities

Chemistry: Elevations in serum transaminases, LDH, fasting glucose, uric acid, total bilirubin, amylase and creatine kinase, and reduction in phosphorus.

Hematology: Slight reductions in platelet counts and prolongation in prothrombin time.

To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS contact AvKARE, Inc. at 1-855-361-3993; email drugsafety@avkare.com; or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.

Niacor B3 contraindications

See also:
What is the most important information I should know about Niacor B3?

Niacor B3 extended-release tablets are contraindicated in the following conditions:
Active liver disease or unexplained persistent elevations in hepatic transaminases
Patients with active peptic ulcer disease
Patients with arterial bleeding
Hypersensitivity to Niacor B3 or any component of this medication

Active ingredient matches for Niacor B3:

Niacin


List of Niacor B3 substitutes (brand and generic names)

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Unit description / dosage (Manufacturer)Price, USD
NIADRIVE tab 375 mg x 10's (Sun)$ 0.79
NIADRIVE tab 500 mg x 10's (Sun)$ 1.03
NICOGLOW 250 MG TABLET 1 strip / 10 tablets each (Glowderma Labs Pvt Ltd)$ 0.95
Nicoglow 250mg Tablet (Glowderma Labs Pvt Ltd)$ 0.10
Tablet; Oral; Vitamin B3 / Niacin 500 mg (Rhone-poulenc rorer)
Tablet; Oral; Vitamin B3 / Nicotinic Acid 100 mg (Densa Pharmaceuticals Pvt.Ltd.)
Tablet; Oral; Vitamin B3 / Nicotinic Acid 50 mg (Densa Pharmaceuticals Pvt.Ltd.)
Injectable; Injection; Vitamin B3 / Nicotinic Acid 10 mg / ml (Densa Pharmaceuticals Pvt.Ltd.)
Tablet; Oral; Vitamin B3 / Nicotinic Acid 250 mg (Densa Pharmaceuticals Pvt.Ltd.)
Nicotinic acid 1%/1ml - 10 Vial (Densa Pharmaceuticals Pvt.Ltd.)$ 8.00
Nicotinic acid 50mg - 50 Tablets (Densa Pharmaceuticals Pvt.Ltd.)$ 7.00
Nicotinic Acid 50 mg Tablet (Densa Pharmaceuticals Pvt.Ltd.)$ 0.00
Plusssz Junior 50 tube 20 Tablet

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Information checked by Dr. Sachin Kumar, MD Pharmacology

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