Fentanyl patches

[<Zed>]

So my question to the pharmacy world is something that is probably really obvious, but throws me...

fentanyl patches
what are the differences between durogesic, matrifen, and fentalis patches?

i checked the SPCs, and they all realise eg 25mcg/hr, the bnf doesnt really explain... and the prescriptons dont always state "durogesic", more often than not they say "fentanyl __mcg\hour transdermal patch, apply one patch every 72hrs"

erm other than the price difference...

[shan]

So my question to the pharmacy world is something that is probably really obvious, but throws me...

fentanyl patches
what are the differences between durogesic, matrifen, and fentalis patches?

i checked the SPCs, and they all realise eg 25mcg/hr, the bnf doesnt really explain... and the prescriptons dont always state "durogesic", more often than not they say "fentanyl __mcg\hour transdermal patch, apply one patch every 72hrs"

erm other than the price difference...

You almost answered your question

Shan

[Nik]

The difference is in their release profiles. Durogesic and fentalis are drug in reservoir systems while matrifen is a drug in matrix system.

http://www.duragesic.com/duragesic/s.../duragesic.pdf

Matrifen

[johnep]

Multiples will stipulate what brand to use according to a deal with the manufacturer. If you want a particular brand, must be stated on script by Dr.
johnep

[Defblade]

more often than not they say "fentanyl __mcg\hour transdermal patch, apply one patch every 72hrs"

Ha! You'll be lucky round here

[howe928]

do you put all these different generics under one CD register or
you have to give each of these generics a separate registers (must?)?

[razorbladekisses]

Our CD register is quite old but we have a section for each brand.

[Zoggite]

Durogesic patches are now matrix-type, not reservoir-types any more (hence they're now called Durogesic DTrans).
It is recognised that not all fentanyl patch formulations have the same release profiles, and therefore, there has been some prescribing guidelines advising GPs to prescribe by brand and not generically.
I have decided to lump together all the non-Durogesic patches into one section of my CD register, entitled "Fentanyl patches 25mcg/h- Generics various).

[johnep]

Would love to have just one section for Durogesic and all others, but register already divided up by brand, and, as preferred brand changes nearly every month, we have about 20 different sections. Current brand we have been told to use is Mezolar, but could be Tilofyl or Fentalis.
johnep