ABSTRACT
Many dosage forms including capsules and tablets are available in more than one strength. If a capsule or a tablet of higher strength is prescribed but unavailable, two capsules or tablets of one-half the strength may be dispensed. Thus, a pharmacist or a health care professional may need to administer onehalf or some other portion of the tablet. For example, if 300-mg tablets of ibuprofen are prescribed, and only 600-mg ibuprofen tablets are available. In such a case, one-half of the total number of tablets required should be dispensed to the patients with clear instructions to take 1⁄2 tablet. A few helpful tips for such calculations are provided below:
(1) Do not break the tablets that are not scored. (2) Enteric coated tablets are designed to resist the acidic environment in the
stomach and release the medication in the small intestine. If such tablets are broken, their enteric properties may be lost. Therefore, do not break them.
(3) As a general rule, do not divide sustained/controlled release medications as they may lose their controlled release properties. However, there may be some exceptions to this rule. For example, Calan SR 240 tablets which are to be given once daily can be split to administer 120 mg (or 1⁄2 tablet) twice daily. Therefore, unless specifically suggested by the manufacturer, controlled release tablets should not be crushed or broken.
