Deltasone (Prednisone) - Summary

DELTASONE SUMMARY

Deltasone tablets contain prednisone which is a glucocorticoid. Glucocorticoids are adrenocortical steroids, both naturally occurring and synthetic, which are readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract.

Prednisone tablets are indicated in the following conditions:

1. Endocrine Disorders:

Primary or secondary adrenocortical insufficiency (hydrocortisone or cortisone is the first choice; synthetic analogs may be used in conjunction with mineralocorticoids where applicable; in infancy mineralocorticoid supplementation is of particular importance).

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Hypercalcemia associated with cancer.

Nonsuppurative thyroiditis.

2. Rheumatic Disorders: As adjunctive therapy for short-term administration (to tide the patient over an acute episode or exacerbation) in:

Psoriatic arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis, including juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (selected cases may require low-dose maintenance therapy).

Ankylosing spondylitis.

Acute and subacute bursitis.

Acute nonspecific tenosynovitis.

Acute gouty arthritis.

Post-traumatic osteoarthritis.

Synovitis of osteoarthritis.

Epicondylitis.

3. Collagen Diseases: During an exacerbation or as maintenance therapy in selected cases of:

Systemic lupus erythematosus.

Systemic dermatomyositis (polymyositis).

Acute rheumatic carditis.

4. Dermatological Diseases:

Pemphigus.

Bullous dermatitis herpetiformis.

Severe erythema muliforme (Stevens-Johnson syndrome).

Exfoliative dermatitis.

Mycosis fungoides.

Severe psoriasis.

Severe seborrheic dermatitis.

5. Allergic States: Control of severe or incapacitating allergic conditions intractable to adequate trials of conventional treatment:

Seasonal or perennial allergic rhinitis.

Bronchial asthma.

Contact dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis.

Serum sickness.

Drug hypersensitivity reactions.

6. Ophthalmic Diseases: Severe acute and chronic allergic and inflammatory processes involving the eye and its adnexa such as:

Allergic corneal marginal ulcers.

Herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

Anterior segment inflammation.

Diffuse posterior uveitis and choroiditis.

Sympathetic ophthalmia.

Allergic conjunctivitis.

Keratitis.

Chorioretinitis.

Optic neuritis.

Iritis and iridocyclitis.

7. Respiratory Diseases:

Symptomatic sarcoidosis.

Loeffler's syndrome not manageable by other means.

Berylliosis.

Fulminating or disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis when used concurrently with appropriate antituberculous chemotherapy.

Aspiration pneumonitis.

8. Hematologic Disorders:

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in adults.

Secondary thrombocytopenia in adults.

Acquired (autoimmune) hemolytic anemia.

Erythroblastopenia (RBC anemia).

Congenital (erythroid) hypoplastic anemia.

9. Neoplastic Diseases: For palliative management of:

Leukemias and lymphomas in adults.

Acute leukemia of childhood.

10. Edematous States:

To induce a diuresis or remission of proteinuria in the nephrotic syndrome, without uremia, of the idiopathic type or that due to lupus erythematosus.

11. Gastrointestinal Diseases: To tide the patient over a critical period of the disease in:

Ulcerative colitis.

Regional enteritis.

12. Nervous System:

Acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis.

13. Miscellaneous:

Tuberculous meningitis with subarachnoid block or impending block when used concurrently with appropriate antituberculous chemotherapy.

Trichinosis with neurologic or myocardial involvement.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Published Studies Related to Deltasone (Prednisone)

Effect of abiraterone acetate and prednisone compared with placebo and prednisone on pain control and skeletal-related events in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: exploratory analysis of data from the COU-AA-301 randomised trial. [2012]
docetaxel chemotherapy... INTERPRETATION: In patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer

Randomized phase II trial of docetaxel plus prednisone in combination with placebo or AT-101, an oral small molecule Bcl-2 family antagonist, as first-line therapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. [2012]
AT-101 (A) or placebo in chemonaive mCRPC... CONCLUSIONS: AT-101 was tolerable but did not extend OS when combined with DP in

Randomized phase II trial of docetaxel plus prednisone in combination with placebo or AT-101, an oral small molecule Bcl-2 family antagonist, as first-line therapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. [2011.11.29]
BACKGROUND: AT-101 (A), a small molecule oral inhibitor of the Bcl-2 family, has activity alone and in combination with docetaxel (Taxotere) and prednisone (DP) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II trial compared DP combined with either AT-101 (A) or placebo in chemonaive mCRPC... CONCLUSIONS: AT-101 was tolerable but did not extend OS when combined with DP in mCRPC; a potential benefit was observed in high-risk patients.

The clinical efficacy of 3 mg/day prednisone in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: evidence from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled withdrawal clinical trial. [2011.09]
A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, withdrawal clinical trial was conducted of prednisone <5 mg/ day versus placebo in 31 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). These patients had been treated with long-term 1-4 mg/day of prednisone, 22 with 3 mg/day, in usual clinical care at a single academic clinical setting...

Randomized, blinded trial of weekend vs daily prednisone in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. [2011.08.02]
OBJECTIVE: To perform a double-blind, randomized study comparing efficacy and safety of daily and weekend prednisone in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)... CONCLUSIONS: Weekend dosing of prednisone is equally beneficial to the standard daily dosing of prednisone. Analysis of side effect profiles demonstrated overall tolerability of both dosing regimens. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class I evidence that weekend prednisone dosing is as safe and effective as daily prednisone in preserving muscle strength and preventing body mass index increases in boys with DMD over a 12-month period.

more studies >>

Clinical Trials Related to Deltasone (Prednisone)

Prednisone Timed-Release Tablet (TRT) Study: TRT Formulation of Prednisone Compared to Standard Prednisone in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis [Completed]
The objective of this study is to investigate if low doses of prednisone TRT, given at night and, with active drug release at 2 am, are more effective in controlling joint stiffness, and other disease symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis than standard prednisone given in the morning. Treatment duration per patient takes 12 months (the double-blind comparative study takes 3 months; 9 months subsequent open treatment on the TRT-medication).

Prednisone-Placebo vs Prednisone-Valacyclovir in Bell´s Palsy [Completed]
Since steroids carry a moderate beneficial effect in Bell's palsy, and to address this question, valacyclovir was added to prednisone for the treatment of this condition.

Subcutaneous Velcade Plus Oral Melphalan and Prednisone or Plus Cycloposphamide and Prednisone or Plus Prednisone [Recruiting]
This protocol is a single-arm, three-cohort, phase II multicenter study designed to assess the safety and the efficacy of three all-oral combinations: Velcade with continuous low-dose melphalan and prednisone (VMP) or with continuous low-dose cyclophosphamide and prednisone (VCP) or Velcade with low-dose prednisone could be effective and well tolerated (VP).

Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone Versus Melphalan Prednisone and Lenalidomide Versus Cyclophosphamide, Prednisone and Lenalidomide in Elderly Multiple Myeloma Patients [Recruiting]
This is a multicenter, randomized, controlled, 3 arm parallel group study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of three all-oral combinations: lenalidomide with dexamethasone (Rd) in comparison with lenalidomide in association with MP (MPR) and

lenalidomide in association with cyclophosphamide - prednisone (CPR) in newly diagnosed

symptomatic MM patients. This protocol also provides a substudy designed to observe asymptomatic patients excluded to the protocol that in any case could be inserted in the study.

Study Comparing Two Tapering Strategies of Prednisone in Myasthenia Gravis [Recruiting]

Pathology - Generalized myasthenia gravis (MG) is cause of muscle weakness that can have a

significant impact on daily life activity but can also be, when respiratory or bulbar muscles are involved, life-threatening.

Rationale - Additionally to thymectomy, which indication of is still debated in absence of

thymoma, the long-term treatment of generalized myasthenia gravis includes usually prednisone and azathioprine. However, the most used scheme for prescribing and tapering corticosteroid in MG resulted in a very important cumulative dose of prednisone. Indeed, at twelve month, more than 50 percent of patients are still daily treated with at least 18 mg of prednisone and the proportion of patients who are in remission and no longer taking prednisone is very low (Palace and NEWSOM Davis, Neurology 1998). Prolonged corticosteroid therapy is accompanied with various and major side effects, hypertension, osteoporosis, weight gain, glaucoma. Therefore, tapering, eventually discontinuing, prednisone earlier is a relevant therapeutic goal.

For this reason, the investigators will compare to the standard one, a strategy consisting of a rapid decrease in corticosteroid.

Objective - To assess whether, in patients with generalized MG requiring a long-term

treatment with corticosteroids and azathioprine, that the strategy of rapid tapering allows discontinuing more rapidly the prednisone for equivalent efficacy than the classical strategy.

more trials >>

PATIENT REVIEWS / RATINGS / COMMENTS

Deltasone review by 16 year old female patient
		Rating
Overall rating:
Effectiveness:		Highly Effective
Side effects:		No Side Effects
		Treatment Info
Condition / reason:		severe poison ivy all over face
Dosage & duration:		20mg taken 3 daily for the period of 5 days
Other conditions:		strep throat
Other drugs taken:		amoxicillan
		Reported Results
Benefits:		it cleared away my face from poison ivy basically over night.
Side effects:		there were no side effects.
Comments:		i went to the doctors on Thursday. my throat hurt real bad and i pretty much knew i had strep throat because i have had it before. so they told me to take amoxacillin 500mg every 8 hours. it worked real good next day throat felt ten times better but still have to take it until the bottle runs out so it doesnt come back. so come sunday night i wake up in the middle of the night itching my forehead. i woke up looked like a rash. went back to bed and woke up in the morning and still there. it scared me a little bit thought it was an allergic reaction so i went to the doc and she told me she didnt know 100% if it was an allergic reaction to amoxacillin or if it was strep throat. so switched my anibiotics and got hydroxyzine for itch relief but nothing for the rash itself! so next day kept getting worse and wosre finally that night i went to the er and a different doctor told me it wasnt medicine related at all and thought it was poison ivy which i get a lot! it didnt look like any poison ivy ive ever had though. so they gave me a prednisone shot in the butt and pills for the next five days. the next morning it was pretty much clear whatever it was i dont care because it gone and doesnt bother me anymore. prednisone worked great for me.

Deltasone review by 53 year old female patient
		Rating
Overall rating:
Effectiveness:		Highly Effective
Side effects:		Moderate Side Effects
		Treatment Info
Condition / reason:		Crohn's Disease
Dosage & duration:		50 mg to start taken daily for the period of 4 -6 weeks
Other conditions:		none
Other drugs taken:		imodium
		Reported Results
Benefits:		Remission of Crohn's Disease. Remission included normal bowel movenments from about 15/day to 1 or 2 per day. Cramps associated with diarrhea have disappeared. Increased energy, feeling active and generally feeling better. Endoscopy was done at one point after the treatment and there was indication of only very mild disease so basically remission was achieved according to my gastroenterologist.
Side effects:		Edema, weight gain, round face occurring about 3 weeks into the treatment. Insomnia, headache and hperactivity occurred at 50 mg daily, and subsided when dose decreased to 40 mg daily. I was first diagnosed with Crohn's in 1980 and at that time not too much was known about effective treatments and so on. My gastroenterologist at the time prescribed 5mg of prednisone daily for an indefinite period of time. This did not help at all, in fact I became sicker and sicker, lost a lot of weight and had frequent diarrhea and severe cramps all day. I became osteopenic and had a bowel perforation 2 years later. The perforation was believed to be due to the long term prenisone I was taking. I had a bowel resection done. A new Gastroenterologist started me on a new treatment schedule.
Comments:		The new treatment schedule started with 50 qam for 1 week. Decrease to 40 mg for a week, and then slowly keep decreasing by 5 mg daily, for a week at a time, until finished. Usually takes about a month. I only needed to take prednisone about once a year when flare-ups occurred. Remission periods between flareups became further and further apart as I became older, often years, so I am no longer osteopenic as a result.