I have been taking 10 mg Crestor (cholesterol lowering) tablets for 3 months now and have only had positive results to-date.

Is there any reason why I cannot buy 20 mg tablets and split them for daily use. They are coated so does the coating have any function in controlling the release of the drug?

Alternatively I could take 1 x 20mg every 2 days.

Over the course of 1 year the savings in buying the 20mg strength adds up.

Thanks

"They are coated so does the coating have any function in controlling the release of the drug?"

It depends - some coatings do control release and in which part of the gut/stomach etc it is released.

There is something here but its a bit beyond my ken of drug production ;-)

http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/fr/ia.jsp?ia=HU2...mp;DISPLAY=DESC

They are film coated for for delayed release but i do not know how much splitting will accelerate the release

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=6243

"They are coated so does the coating have any function in controlling the release of the drug?"

It depends - some coatings do control release and in which part of the gut/stomach etc it is released.

There is something here but its a bit beyond my ken of drug production ;-)

http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/fr/ia.jsp?ia=HU2...mp;DISPLAY=DESC

They are film coated for for delayed release but i do not know how much splitting will accelerate the release

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=6243

Thanks for the links.

From my (poor) understanding there do not seem to be any reasons not to split the tablets. I will give it a go.

The only thing I found with splitting coated tablets is that some medications taste disgusting and the coating covered that a little. When split the horrid taste comes out

Splitting coated tabs may lead to a rapid absorption and increase in the blood levels of that particular drug or deficient absorption as the coating usually is designed to allow for the release of the drug in the gut rather than stomach where gastric acid may reduce the bio-availability or effectiveness of the medication.

Splitting coated tabs may also not be accurate, resulting in different doses.

Best is to stick to the proper dose and presentation. If you do split this particular drug in question, best to have blood lipid levels checked at about a 6 week interval.