Docusate 50mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
Available from a pharmacy with pharmacist advice
Docusate, or dioctyl sulfosuccinate, is a stool softener indicated for the treatment of constipation[A32201].
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Official medicine documents
Yellow Card
Report side effects (MHRA)
Drug safety updates
MHRA alerts for Docusate
Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
View Drug Analysis Profile
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Docusate
Browse all iDAP reports
Interactive Drug Analysis Profiles for all medicines
Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
View EudraVigilance report
Suspected adverse reactions reported for Docusate
About EudraVigilance
Learn about EU pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring
EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
8 branded products available
MHRA licensed products
View all licensed products for Docusate on the MHRA register
Docusol Constipation Relief 50mg/5ml oral solution
Docusate 50mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
Docusate 50mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
Docusate 50mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
Docusate 50mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
Docusate 50mg/5ml oral solution sugar free
This is the NHS Drug Tariff indicative price used for reimbursement purposes. It may not reflect the price paid by patients or pharmacies.
View full Drug TariffSource: NHS Drug Tariff via NHSBSA. Derived from dm+d VMPP (Virtual Medicinal Product Pack) pricing data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
150 mg
Not a recommended dose. The DDD is the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults. It is a statistical measure used for research and comparison purposes only.
Source: WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, distributed via the NHS dm+d supplementary mapping files (NHSBSA). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(1)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
Browse tools
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. ATC codes from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (whocc.no).
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 4 · Randomised trials: 8 · 1998–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Abdul Mounaem Majzoub, Alexander Malik, Mustafa Gandhi, et al.
Gastroenterology, 2024
Virginia Hurdon, R. Viola, C. Schroder
Journal of pain and symptom management, 2000
Y. Tarumi, M. Wilson, O. Szafran, et al.
Journal of pain and symptom management, 2013
Abby Stevens
50 Pharmacotherapy Studies Every Palliative Practitioner Should Know, 2025
McRorie Jw, Daggy Bp, Morelli Jg, et al.
Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 1998
Adam J. Singer, Ed Sauris, A. Viccellio
Annals of emergency medicine, 2000
P. Piromchai, Chanticha Laohakittikul, Sirichoke Khunnawongkrit, et al.
Otology & Neurotology, 2020
Timothy Nguyen
The Senior Care Pharmacist, 2021
- Constipation
- Dioctyl Sulfosuccinic Acid
Yang A, Lam T, Jierjian E, et al.
2022
- Dioctyl Sulfosuccinic Acid
- Opioid-Induced Constipation
- Constipation
Minita S. Patel, Megan O. Schimpf, D. O’Sullivan, et al.
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 2010
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
Not available
Mechanism
Recent studies suggest that docusate's mechanism of action is due largely to it'…
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
None mapped
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
[L1801][L5912]
As the actions of docusate are local and it is not absorbed, the pharmacokinetic parameters are not available.
[L5912]
…
Elimination
[L1801][L5912]
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
[A176984]
Though recently, pressure has been building to end the use of docusate over concerns of efficacy.
[A176972][A176987][L5912]
Known interactions with other medicines. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 393 interactions
Docusate’s mechanism of action was investigated in 1985 on healthy patients.[A32201] Docusate was added directly to the jejunum based on calculated concentrations of docusate in the jejunum.[A32201] At this concentration, there was an increase in secretion of water, sodium, chloride, and potassium as well as a decrease in absorption of glucose and bicarbonate[A32201]. Based on in vitro data, the authors suggested this effect was due to an increase in intracellular cyclic AMP either directly through docusate or E series prostaglandins.[A32201]
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
[L1801][L5912]
As the actions of docusate are local and it is not absorbed, the pharmacokinetic parameters are not available.
[L5912]
[L1801][L5912]
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Show
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Docusate
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite:
- DrugBank 6.02024Recommended citationKnox C., Wilson M., Klinger C.M., et alDrugBank 6.0: the DrugBank Knowledgebase for 2024Nucleic Acids Res. 2024 Jan 552(D1):D1265-D1275
- DrugBank 5.02018Wishart D.S., Feunang Y.D., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Nov 846(D1):D1074-D1082
- DrugBank 4.02014Law V., Knox C., Djoumbou Y., et alDrugBank 4.0: shedding new light on drug metabolismNucleic Acids Res. 2014 Jan 142(1):D1091-7
- DrugBank 3.02011Knox C., Law V., Jewison T., et alDrugBank 3.0: a comprehensive resource for 'omics' research on drugsNucleic Acids Res. 2011 Jan39(Database issue):D1035-41
- DrugBank 2.02008Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a knowledgebase for drugs, drug actions and drug targets.Nucleic Acids Research2008 Jan36(Database issue):D901-6
- DrugBank 1.02006Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a comprehensive resource for in silico drug discovery and exploration.Nucleic Acids Research2006 Jan 134(Database issue):D668-72