Doxazosin - medication swap

We are just about to write to patients who are taking doxazosin to tell them that we are swapping the formulation of their medication. Doxazosin is a drug that is prescribed for mainly for controlling blood pressure and also sometimes for patients with prostate problems. It is used as a fourth line blood pressure lowering drug - that is after we have tried three others to control patients blood pressure.

We are swapping the form of the drug from a modified release form to the immediate release form. Patients should notice no difference in the swap. According to our colleagues in medicines management the half life of the active drug in both the immediate release and modified release form is 22 hours, so both drugs are suitable to take once a day. The only difference patients might noticed is that the dose of the immediate release variety is half that of the modified release form. If you are taking 8mg modified release doxazosin the new dose of the immediate release form is 4mg.

The reason we are swapping is because immediate release doxazosin is much more cost effective (ie cheap!). For 28 days supply of doxazosin 8mg tablets the NHS cost is £9.98 whereas the NHS cost of the immediate release tablets is £1.29. Medicines management think that if we swap every patient it will save the NHS £7,000 a year.

And as well all know, every little helps!

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