Isosorbide mononitrate 30mg/5ml oral suspension
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Isosorbide mononitrate is an organic nitrate with vasodilating properties.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Official medicine documents
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Drug safety updates
MHRA alerts for Isosorbide mononitrate
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.
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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.
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EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
1 branded products available
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
40 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
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
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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: 10 · Randomised trials: 35 · 1996–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
J. Wardlaw, L. Woodhouse, I. Mhlanga, et al.
JAMA Neurology, 2023
- Stroke
- Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases
- Stroke, Lacunar
Ru Wang, Jing Hu, Yuanyuan Li, et al.
Chinese Herbal Medicines, 2024
Abu-Zaid A, Khadawardi K, Al-Matary A, et al.
2023
- Oxytocics
- Dinoprostone
- Isosorbide Dinitrate
Iqbal S, Olivares CB, Rizzo L, et al.
2026
- Alzheimer Disease
- Clinical Trials as Topic
- Drug Repositioning
IntroductionThere is an urgent need to identify effective, safe, and affordable treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), we developed a systematic drug prioritization pipeline to identify repurposed drug candidates for inclusion in a planned platform trial for clinical AD.MethodsThe wider AD community was invited to propose compounds using a standardized proposal template. Fourteen proposals were presented to an international expert panel, who independently ranked compounds based on biological plausibility, preclinical efficacy, safety, and trial feasibility. Extended drug summaries were compiled for shortlisted compounds, supported by ReLiSyR, a machine learning-supported systematic review tool.ResultsFollowing review in a second panel meeting, independent re-ranking identified the following compounds: atomoxetine (1st), metformin (2nd), isosorbide mononitrate and levetiracetam (joint 3rd).DiscussionThis robust drug prioritization pipeline will speed the identification and progression of promising candidates for therapeutic evaluation.
Abstract licence: CC BY
Somayeh Makvandi, Leila Karimi, Masoumeh Safyari, et al.
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2024
- Isosorbide Dinitrate
- Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal
- Misoprostol
C. Merkel, R. Marin, E. Enzo, et al.
Lancet, 1996
Yuhang Liu, Jienan Zheng, Yeyou Xu, et al.
Journal of Holistic Integrative Pharmacy, 2024
J. García‐Pagán, C. Villanueva, A. Albillos, et al.
Gut, 2009
Abuzaid M, Baradwan S, Alkhamis WH, et al.
2022
- Isosorbide
- Misoprostol
- Labor, Induced
Abu-Zaid A, Alshahrani MS, Al-Matary A, et al.
2022
- Oxytocics
- Cervical Ripening
- Isosorbide Dinitrate
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
4 found
Half-life
5 hours
Mechanism
Isosorbide mononitrate acts as a prodrug for nitric oxide (NO), which is a poten…
Food interactions
1 warning
Human targets
1 target
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
100%
Half-life
5 hours
[L11698]
…
Protein binding
5%
[L11698]
Volume of distribution
0.6 L/kg
[A190738][L11698]
Metabolism
[L11698]
…
Elimination
93%
[L11698]
…
Clearance
115-120 mL/min
[A190738]
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
First approved by the FDA in 1991,[L11743] isosorbide mononitrate is used for the prevention and management of angina pectoris caused by coronary artery disease; however, the onset of action of orally-administered isosorbide mononitrate is not rapid enough to offset an acute anginal episode.[L11698] It is available in oral tablets generically and under the brand name ISMO and Monoket. The extended-release forms of the drug are also available generically and under the brand name Imdur.[L11743]
[L11698]
Known interactions with other medicines. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 1070 interactions
[L11728]
The symptoms of overdose from isosorbide mononitrate is associated with vasodilatation, venous pooling, reduced cardiac output, and hypotension. These symptoms can be accompanied by several manifestations, including increased intracranial pressure (possibly along with persistent throbbing headache, confusion, and moderate fever), vertigo, palpitations, visual disturbances, nausea and vomiting (possibly along with colic and bloody diarrhea), syncope (especially in the upright posture), air hunger and dyspnea (later followed by reduced ventilatory effort), diaphoresis (with flushed or cold and clammy skin), heart blocks and bradycardia, paralysis, coma, seizures, and death.
[L11698]
There is limited clinical information on the management of isosorbide mononitrate overdose; it is advised that venodilatation and arterial hypovolemia from overdose are responded with therapy aimed to increase in central fluid volume. However, this method may be potentially hazardous in patients with renal disease or congestive heart failure: invasive monitoring may be required in these patients.
The patient's legs should be passively elevated, and intravenous infusion of normal saline or similar fluid is recommended. Isosorbide mononitrate was shown to be significantly removed from the systemic circulation via hemodialysis. The use of epinephrine or other arterial vasoconstrictors is not recommended.
[L11698]
At therapeutic doses of isosorbide mononitrate, nitric oxide has a bigger effect on larger muscular arteries over small resistance arteries. Arterial relaxation leads to reduced systemic vascular resistance and systolic blood (aortic) pressure, decreasing to decreased cardiac afterload.[L11743][T28] The direct dilator effect on coronary arteries opposes the coronary artery spasm in variant angina or angina pectoris.[T28] At larger doses, nitric oxide causes the resistance arteries and arterioles to dilate, reducing arterial pressure via coronary vasodilatation. This leads to increased coronary blood flow.[L11743][T28] Reduced cardiac preload and afterload caused by nitric oxide causes a reduction in myocardial oxygen consumption; decreased myocardial oxygen demand, along with increased coronary blood flow, leads to an increased in the oxygen content of coronary sinus blood [T28] and the relief from ischemia.[L11743]
The end effect of isosorbide mononitrate include decreased cardiac oxygen consumption, redistribution coronary flow toward ischemic areas via collaterals, and the relief of coronary spasms. Nitric oxide can also increase the rate of relaxation of cardiac muscles, which is an effect outside of vascular smooth muscles.[T28] Organic nitrates can also relax other types of smooth muscles, including esophageal and biliary smooth muscle.[T28] The anti-anginal activity of isosorbide mononitrate was observed about 1 hour after dosing, and the peak effect was achieved from 1-4 hours after dosing.[L11698] The duration of anti-anginal action of at least 12 hours was observed with an asymmetrical dosing regimen.[A190738]
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
[L11698]
[L11698]
The elimination half-life of its metabolites, isosorbide and 2-glucuronide of mononitrate, are 8 hours and 6 hours, respectively.
[A190738]
[L11698]
[A190738][L11698]
[L11698]
Detectable metabolites include isosorbide, sorbitol, and 2-glucuronide of mononitrate, which are pharmacologically inactive.
[A190738][L11698]
[L11698]
Following oral administration of 20 mg, only 2% of isosorbide mononitrate was excreted unchanged in the urine within 24 hours.
[A190738]
Among the excreted dose, nearly half of the dose was found de-nitrated in urine as isosorbide and sorbitol: approximately 30% is excreted as isosorbide and about 17% is the 2-glucuronide of mononitrate.
[A190738]
These metabolites were not vasoactive or pharmacologically active. Renal excretion was complete after 5 days, and fecal excretion accounted for only 1% of drug elimination.
[L11698]
[A190738]
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
Enzymes involved in drug metabolism — important for understanding drug interactions
ATC C01DA14
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)
Isosorbide mononitrate
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
1298
ChemSpider
25736
ZINC
ZINC000001849548
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:4684
GeneCards
GUCY1A2
GenBank Gene Database
X63282
GenBank Protein Database
31671
UniProt Accession
GCYA2_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:4632
GenAtlas
GSTM1
GeneCards
GSTM1
GenBank Gene Database
X08020
GenBank Protein Database
31924
UniProt Accession
GSTM1_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:12805
GenAtlas
XDH
GeneCards
XDH
GenBank Gene Database
D11456
GenBank Protein Database
10336525
Guide to Pharmacology
2646
UniProt Accession
XDH_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:253
GenAtlas
ADH5
GeneCards
ADH5
GenBank Gene Database
M30471
GenBank Protein Database
178134
UniProt Accession
ADHX_HUMAN
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