Cetirizine is an antihistamine used to relieve allergy symptoms such as watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, hives, itching eyes/nose and itching. It works by blocking a certain natural substance (histamine) that your body makes during an allergic reaction.
Each 5 ml contains:
Cetirizine Hydrochloride IP 5 mg
Suspension
Antihistamine
Perennial Allergic Rhinitis:Cetirizine Dihydrochloride syrup is indicated for the relief of symptoms associated with perennial allergic rhinitis due to allergens such as dust mites, animal dander and molds in children 6 to 23 months of age. Symptoms treated effectively include sneezing, rhinorrhea, postnasal discharge, nasal pruritus, ocular pruritus, and tearing.
Temporarily relieves these symptoms due to hay fever or other upper respiratory allergies:
Absorption: Cetirizine was rapidly absorbed with a time to maximum concentration (Tmax) of approximately 1 hour following oral administration of syrup in adults.
Metabolism: Cetirizine is metabolized to a limited extent by oxidative O-dealkylation to a metabolite with negligible antihistaminic activity. 70% of the administered radioactivity was recovered in the urine and 10% in the feces.
Distribution: The mean plasma protein binding of Cetirizine is 93%, independent of concentration in the range of 25–1000 ng/mL, which includes the therapeutic plasma levels observed.
Elimination: The mean elimination half-life in 146 healthy volunteers across multiple pharmacokinetic studies was 8.3 hours and the apparent total body clearance for Cetirizine was approximately 53 mL/min.
Mechanism of action
There was a small decrease in the clearance of Cetirizine caused by a 400-mg dose of theophylline; it is possible that larger theophylline doses could have a greater effect.
Cetirizine Dihydrochloride is contraindicated in those patients with a known hypersensitivity to it or any of its ingredients or hydroxyzine.