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Home > Community Treatment Reports and Side Effects > Riluzole Treatment Report
What is Riluzole?

Riluzole is the first drug to be approved for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Riluzole, available as Rilutek®, does not cure ALS or improve symptoms, but may extend survival or the time to tracheostomy.

Reported Purpose & Efficacy

Reasons and Efficacy
Purpose # of patients
# of patients with evaluations Efficacy
Major
Moderate
Slight
None
Can’t tell
ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) 1382 264 Efficacy_major Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_slight Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
PMA (Progressive Muscular Atrophy) 29 13 Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
PLS (Primary Lateral Sclerosis) 23 5 Efficacy_cant_tell
Other 15 1 Efficacy_cant_tell
General health 13 4 Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
Don't know 8 1 Efficacy_cant_tell

See all 1136 patients currently taking Riluzole

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Reported Side Effects

Side effects as an overall problem

Severe
 21
Moderate
 44
Mild
 61
None
 170

Commonly reported side effects, conditions, and hospitalizations associated with Riluzole

Fatigue 27
Nausea 16
Stomach pain 9
Abdominal pain 8
Tiredness 7
Weakness in lips 7
See all 67 reported side effects ▼ See top 6 reported side effects ▲

Reported Dosages

Frequently reported dosages based on patients currently taking Riluzole. See all 25 dosages ►

  daily 1 mg daily 2 mg daily 20 mg daily 50 mg daily 60 mg daily 100 mg daily 150 mg daily 200 mg daily 300 mg daily
  71 Number of Patients: 71 3 Number of Patients: 3 3 Number of Patients: 3 4 Number of Patients: 4 170 Number of Patients: 170 2 Number of Patients: 2 1024 Number of Patients: 1024 9 Number of Patients: 9 12 Number of Patients: 12 2 Number of Patients: 2  

Reported Stop Reasons

Why Patients Stopped Taking Riluzole (multiple reasons could be selected)
Reason # Patients Percentage of patients
Side effects too severe 137   Side effects too severe: 39%
Did not seem to work 130   Did not seem to work: 37%
Expense 61   Expense: 18%
Other 49   Other: 14%
Doctor's advice 46   Doctor's advice: 13%
Personal research 35   Personal research: 10%
Not indicated 12   Not indicated: 3%
Course of treatment ended 9   Course of treatment ended: 3%
Change in health plan coverage 6   Change in health plan coverage: 2%

See all 337 patients who’ve stopped taking Riluzole

Reported Duration See details about how long patients take this treatment ▼

Currently Taking Riluzole

A bar graph

0-1 month 1-3 months 3-6 months 6 months-1year 1-2 years 2 years or more

Stopped Taking Riluzole

A bar graph

0-1 month 1-3 months 3-6 months 6 months-1year 1-2 years 2 years or more

Reported Adherence, Burden & Cost See details from patient evaluations ▼

Adherence

Taking treatment as prescribed

Adherence of Riluzole

Always
 248 84%
Usually
 24 8%
Sometimes
 9 3%
Never
 15 5%

Burden

Difficulty being on treatment

Burden of Riluzole

Very
 6 2%
Somewhat
 31 10%
A little
 54 18%
Not at all
 205 69%

Cost

Paid out of pocket

Cost of Riluzole

$200+
 50 24%
$100-199
 10 5%
$50-99
 23 11%
$25-49
 31 15%
< $25
 94 45%

See more information, including instructions, precautions, side effects, and interactions.

Report created on February 09, 2012.