Bumetanide prescribing information
WARNING Bumetanide is a potent diuretic which, if given in excessive amounts, can lead to a profound diuresis with water and electrolyte depletion. Therefore, careful medical supervision is required, and dose and dosage schedule have to be adjusted to the individual patient’s needs (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION ).
INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Bumetanide tablets are indicated for the treatment of edema associated with congestive heart failure, hepatic and renal disease, including the nephrotic syndrome.
Almost equal diuretic response occurs after oral and parenteral administration of bumetanide. Therefore, if impaired gastrointestinal absorption is suspected or oral administration is not practical, bumetanide should be given by the intramuscular or intravenous route.
Successful treatment with bumetanide tablets following instances of allergic reactions to furosemide suggests a lack of cross-sensitivity.
DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION
Individualize dosage with careful monitoring of patient response.
Oral Administration
The usual total daily dosage of bumetanide tablets are 0.5 mg to 2 mg and in most patients are given as a single dose.
If the diuretic response to an initial dose of bumetanide tablets is not adequate, in view of its rapid onset and short duration of action, a second or third dose may be given at 4- to 5- hour intervals up to a maximum daily dose of 10 mg. An intermittent dose schedule, whereby bumetanide tablets are given on alternate days or for 3 to 4 days with rest periods of 1 to 2 days in between, is recommended as the safest and most effective method for the continued control of edema. In patients with hepatic failure, keep the dosage to a minimum.
Because cross-sensitivity with furosemide has rarely been observed, bumetanide can be substituted at approximately a 1:40 ratio of bumetanide in proportion to furosemide in patients allergic to furosemide.
Parenteral Administration
Bumetanide injection may be administered parenterally (intravenously and intramuscularly) to patients in whom gastrointestinal absorption may be impaired or in whom oral administration is not practical.
Terminate parenteral treatment and institute oral treatment as soon as possible.
CONTRAINDICATIONS
Bumetanide is contraindicated in anuria. Although bumetanide can be used to induce diuresis in renal insufficiency, any marked increase in blood urea nitrogen or creatinine, or the development of oliguria during therapy of patients with progressive renal disease, is an indication for discontinuation of treatment with bumetanide. Bumetanide is also contraindicated in patients in hepatic coma or in states of severe electrolyte depletion until the condition is improved or corrected. Bumetanide is contraindicated in patients hypersensitive to this drug.
ADVERSE REACTIONS
The most frequent clinical adverse reactions considered probably or possibly related to bumetanide are muscle cramps (seen in 1.1% of treated patients), dizziness (1.1%), hypotension (0.8%), headache (0.6%), nausea (0.6%) and encephalopathy (in patients with pre-existing liver disease) (0.6%). One or more of these adverse reactions have been reported in approximately 4.1% of patients treated with bumetanide.
Serious skin reactions (i.e., Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis) have been reported in association with bumetanide use.
Less frequent clinical adverse reactions to bumetanide are impaired hearing (0.5%), pruritus (0.4%), electrocardiogram changes (0.4%), weakness (0.2%), hives (0.2%), abdominal pain (0.2%), arthritic pain (0.2%), musculoskeletal pain (0.2%), rash (0.2%) and vomiting (0.2%). One or more of these adverse reactions have been reported in approximately 2.9% of patients treated with bumetanide.
Other clinical adverse reactions, which have each occurred in approximately 0.1% of patients, are vertigo, chest pain, ear discomfort, fatigue, dehydration, sweating, hyperventilation, dry mouth, upset stomach, renal failure, asterixis, itching, nipple tenderness, diarrhea, premature ejaculation and difficulty maintaining an erection.
Laboratory abnormalities reported have included hyperuricemia (in 18.4% of patients tested), hypochloremia (14.9%), hypokalemia (14.7%), azotemia (10.6%), hyponatremia (9.2%), increased serum creatinine (7.4%), hyperglycemia (6.6%), and variations in phosphorus (4.5%), CO content (4.3%), bicarbonate (3.1%) and calcium (2.4%). Although manifestations of the pharmacologic action of bumetanide, these conditions may become more pronounced by intensive therapy.
Also reported have been thrombocytopenia (0.2%) and deviations in hemoglobin (0.8%), prothrombin time (0.8%), hematocrit (0.6%), WBC (0.3%) and differential counts (0.1%). There have been rare spontaneous reports of thrombocytopenia from postmarketing experience.
Diuresis induced by bumetanide may also rarely be accompanied by changes in LDH (1.0%), total serum bilirubin (0.8%), serum proteins (0.7%), SGOT (0.6%), SGPT (0.5%), alkaline phosphatase (0.4%), cholesterol (0.4%) and creatinine clearance (0.3%). Increases in urinary glucose (0.7%) and urinary protein (0.3%) have also been seen.
To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Appco Pharma, LLC at 1-855-672-7726 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.
Drug Interactions
Drugs with Ototoxic Potential (see WARNINGS ).
Especially in the presence of impaired renal function, the use of parenterally administered bumetanide in patients to whom aminoglycoside antibiotics are also being given should be avoided, except in life- threatening conditions.
Drugs with Nephrotoxic Potential
There has been no experience with the concurrent use of bumetanide with drugs known to have a nephrotoxic potential. Therefore, the simultaneous administration of these drugs should be avoided.
Lithium
Lithium should generally not be given with diuretics (such as bumetanide) because they reduce its renal clearance and add a high risk of lithium toxicity.
Probenecid
Pretreatment with probenecid reduces both the natriuresis and hyperreninemia produced by bumetanide. This antagonistic effect of probenecid on bumetanide natriuresis is not due to a direct action on sodium excretion but is probably secondary to its inhibitory effect on renal tubular secretion of bumetanide. Thus, probenecid should not be administered concurrently with bumetanide.
Indomethacin
Indomethacin blunts the increases in urine volume and sodium excretion seen during bumetanide treatment and inhibits the bumetanide-induced increase in plasma renin activity. Concurrent therapy with bumetanide is thus not recommended.
Antihypertensives
Bumetanide may potentiate the effect of various antihypertensive drugs, necessitating a reduction in the dosage of these drugs.
Digoxin
Interaction studies in humans have shown no effect on digoxin blood levels. Anticoagulants Interaction studies in humans have shown bumetanide to have no effect on warfarin metabolism or on plasma prothrombin activity.
DESCRIPTION
Bumetanide is a loop diuretic available as 0.5 mg, 1 mg and 2 mg tablets for oral administration; each tablet also contains lactose anhydrous, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, pregelatinized starch.
Chemically, 3-Butylamino-4-phenoxy-5-sulphamoylbenzoic Acid. It is a practically white crystalline powder having a calculated molecular weight of 364.42, and the following structural formula:
C 17 H 20 N 2 O 5 S
The product meets USP Dissolution Test 2.
CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY
Bumetanide is a loop diuretic with a rapid onset and short duration of action. Pharmacological and clinical studies have shown that 1 mg bumetanide has a diuretic potency equivalent to approximately 40 mg furosemide. The major site of bumetanide action is the ascending limb of the loop of Henle.
The mode of action has been determined through various clearance studies in both humans and experimental animals. Bumetanide inhibits sodium reabsorption in the ascending limb of the loop of Henle, as shown by marked reduction of free-water clearance (CH 2 O) during hydration and tubular free-water reabsorption (TCH 2 O) during hydropenia. Reabsorption of chloride in the ascending limb is also blocked by bumetanide, and bumetanide is somewhat more chloruretic than natriuretic.
Potassium excretion is also increased by bumetanide, in a dose-related fashion.
Bumetanide may have an additional action in the proximal tubule. Since phosphate reabsorption takes place largely in the proximal tubule, phosphaturia during bumetanide induced diuresis is indicative of this additional action. This is further supported by the reduction in the renal clearance of bumetanide by probenecid, associated with diminution in the natriuretic response. This proximal tubular activity does not seem to be related to an inhibition of carbonic anhydrase. Bumetanide does not appear to have a noticeable action on the distal tubule.
Bumetanide decreases uric acid excretion and increases serum uric acid. Following oral administration of bumetanide the onset of diuresis occurs in 30 to 60 minutes. Peak activity is reached between 1 and 2 hours. At usual doses (1 mg to 2 mg) diuresis is largely complete within 4 hours; with higher doses, the diuretic action lasts for 4 to 6 hours. Diuresis starts within minutes following an intravenous injection and reaches maximum levels within 15 to 30 minutes.
Several pharmacokinetic studies have shown that bumetanide, administered orally or parenterally, is eliminated rapidly in humans, with a half-life of between 1 and 1½ hours. Plasma protein-binding is in the range of 94% to 96%.
Oral administration of carbon-14 labeled bumetanide to human volunteers revealed that 81% of the administered radioactivity was excreted in the urine, 45% of it as unchanged drug. Urinary and biliary metabolites identified in this study were formed by oxidation of the N-butyl side chain. Biliary excretion of bumetanide amounted to only 2% of the administered dose.
Pediatric Pharmacology
Elimination of bumetanide appears to be considerably slower in neonatal patients compared with adults, possibly because of immature renal and hepatobiliary function in this population. Small pharmacokinetic studies of intravenous bumetanide in preterm and full-term neonates with respiratory disorders have reported an apparent half-life of approximately 6 hours, with a range up to 15 hours and a serum clearance ranging from 0.2 mL/min/kg to 1.1 mL/min/kg. In a population of neonates receiving bumetanide for volume overload, mean serum clearance rates were 2.2 mL/min/kg in patients less than 2 months of age and 3.8 mL/min/kg in patients aged 2 to 6 months. Mean serum half-life of bumetanide was 2.5 hours and 1.5 hours in patients aged less than 2 months and those aged 2 to 6 months, respectively. Elimination half-life decreased considerably during the first month of life, from a mean of approximately 6 hours at birth to approximately 2.4 hours at 1 month of age.
In preterm neonates, mean serum concentrations following a single 0.05 mg/kg dose ranged from 126 mcg/L at 1 hour to 57 mcg/L at 8 hours. In another study, mean serum concentrations following a single 0.05 mg/kg dose were 338 ng/mL at 30 minutes and 176 ng/mL after 4 hours. A single dose of 0.1 mg/kg produced mean serum levels of 314 ng/mL at 1 hour, and 195 ng/mL at 6 hours. Mean volume of distribution in neonates and infants has been reported to range from 0.26 L/kg to 0.39 L/kg.
The degree of protein binding of bumetanide in cord sera from healthy neonates was approximately 97%, suggesting the potential for bilirubin displacement. A study using pooled sera from critically ill neonates found that bumetanide at concentrations of 0.5 mcg/mL to 50 mcg/mL, but not 0.25 mcg/mL, caused a linear increase in unbound bilirubin concentrations.
In 56 infants aged 4 days to 6 months, bumetanide doses ranging from 0.005 mg/kg to 0.1 mg/kg were studied for pharmacodynamic effect. Peak bumetanide excretion rates increased linearly with increasing doses of drug. Maximal diuretic effect was observed at a bumetanide excretion rate of about 7 mcg/kg/h, corresponding to doses of 0.035 mg/kg to 0.040 mg/kg. Higher doses produced a higher bumetanide excretion rate but no increase in diuretic effect. Urine flow rate peaked during the first hour after drug administration in 80% of patients and by 3 hours in all patients.
Geriatric Pharmacology
In a group of ten geriatric subjects between the ages of 65 and 73 years, total bumetanide clearance was significantly lower (1.8 ± 0.3 mL/min·kg) compared with younger subjects (2.9 ± 0.2 mL/min·kg) after a single oral bumetanide 0.5 mg dose. Maximum plasma concentrations were higher in geriatric subjects (16.9 ± 1.8 ng/mL) compared with younger subjects (10.3 ± 1.5 ng/mL). Urine flow rate and total excretion of sodium and potassium were increased less in the geriatric subjects compared with younger subjects, although potassium excretion and fractional sodium excretion were similar between the two age groups. Nonrenal clearance, bioavailability, and volume of distribution were not significantly different between the two groups.
HOW SUPPLIED
Bumetanide Tablets, USP for oral administration are available as:
Bumetanide Tablets USP, 0.5 mg are supplied as white to off white, round shaped tablets, debossed with “AC and 163” separated by break line on one side and “Plain” on the other side.
They are available as follows:
Bottles of 100: NDC 76282-797-01
Bumetanide Tablets USP, 1 mg are supplied as white to off white, round shaped tablets, debossed with “AC and 164” separated by break line on one side and “Plain” on the other side
They are available as follows:
Bottles of 100: NDC 76282-798-01 Bottles of 500: NDC 76282-798-05
Bumetanide Tablets USP, 2 mg are supplied as white to off white, round shaped tablets, debossed with “AC and 165” separated by break line on one side and “Plain” on the other side.
They are available as follows:
Bottles of 100: NDC 76282-799-01 Bottles of 500: NDC 76282-799-05
Store at 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F) [see USP Controlled Room Temperature].
Dispense contents in a tight, light-resistant container as defined in the USP with a child-resistant closure, as required.
KEEP TIGHTLY CLOSED.
Manufactured by:
Appco Pharma LLC, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Distributed by: Exelan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Boca Raton, FL 33432
Iss. 01/2026
99363725
200865
