OVERVIEW

PRODUCT INFORMATION

CHEMICAL FORMULA AND STRUCTURE

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DRUG	CAS REGISTRY NO.	MOLECULAR FORMULA	STRUCTURE
Bisacodyl	603-50-9	C22-H19-N-O4

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

References updated: 29 September 2017

• Zimmerman HJ. Antiemetic and prokinetic compounds. Miscellaneous drugs and diagnostic chemicals. In, Zimmerman, HJ. Hepatotoxicity: the adverse effects of drugs and other chemicals on the liver. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1999: pp. 721.

  (Expert review of hepatotoxicity published in 1999 does not discuss bisacodyl).
• Sharkey KA, Wallace JL. Treatment of disorders of bowel motility and water flux: anti-emetics; agents used in biliary and pancreatic disease. In, Brunton LL, Chabner BA, Knollman BC, eds. Goodman & Gilman's the pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 12th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011, pp. 1323-50.

  (Textbook of pharmacology and therapeutics).
• Ramkumar D, Rao SS. Efficacy and safety of traditional medical therapies or chronic constipation: systematic review. Am J Gastroenterol 2005; 100: 936-71. [PubMed: 15784043]

  (Systematic review of the literature for controlled trials of traditional therapies for constipation reported "a paucity of trials for many commonly used agents", including bisacodyl and docusate).
• Kienzle-Horn S, Vix JM, Schuijt C, Peil H, Jordan CC, Kamm MA. Efficacy and safety of bisacodyl in the acute treatment of constipation: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2006; 23: 1479-88. [PubMed: 16669963]

  (Among 55 patients with idiopathic constipation treated with bisacodyl [10 mg once daily] or placebo for 3 days, there were no differences in side effects or "clinically meaningful differences" in serum chemistry results between the bisacodyl and placebo groups).
• Kienzle-Horn S, Vix JM, Schuijt C, Peil H, Jordan CC, Kamm MA. Comparison of bisacodyl and sodium picosulphate in the treatment of chronic constipation. Curr Med Res Opin 2007; 23: 691-9. [PubMed: 17407625]

  (Among 144 patients with constipation treated with bisacodyl or sodium picosulphate for 4 weeks, there was improvement in symptoms of constipation in both groups and side effects included abdominal pain and diarrhea; there were no significant changes in laboratory values including electrolytes and serum bilirubin).
• Chalasani N, Fontana RJ, Bonkovsky HL, Watkins PB, Davern T, Serrano J, Yang H, Rochon J; Drug Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN). Causes, clinical features, and outcomes from a prospective study of drug-induced liver injury in the United States. Gastroenterology 2008; 135: 1924-34. [PMC free article: PMC3654244] [PubMed: 18955056]

  (Among 300 cases of drug induced liver disease in the US collected between 2004 and 2008, no cases were attributed to laxatives).
• Mueller-Lissner SA, Wald A. Constipation in adults. Clin Evid (Online) 2010 Jul 5; 2010. pii: 0413. [PMC free article: PMC3217654] [PubMed: 21418672]

  (Review of evidence of efficacy of conventional therapies of constipation).
• Kamm MA, Mueller-Lissner S, Wald A, Richter E, Swallow R, Gessner U. Oral bisacodyl is effective and well-tolerated in patients with chronic constipation. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2011; 9: 577-83. [PubMed: 21440672]

  (Among 368 patients with constipation treated with bisacodyl [10 mg] or placebo once daily for 4 weeks, numbers of bowel movements increased more in the bisacodyl [from 1.1 to 5.2 weekly] than the placebo recipients [1.1 to 1.9]; side effects included diarrhea [52% vs 1.7%] and abdominal pain [25% vs 2.5%], ALT levels were not determined and there were no serious adverse events attributed to bisacodyl).
• Gerard DP, Holden JL, Foster DB, Raiser MW. Randomized trial of gatorade/polyethylene glycol with or without bisacodyl and NuLYTELY for colonoscopy preparation. Clin Transl Gastroenterol 2012; 3: e16. [PMC free article: PMC3391000] [PubMed: 23238266]

  (Among 600 patients scheduled for colonoscopy and undergoing bowel preparation with polyethylene glycol with or without bisacodyl and "NuLytely", patients receiving bisacodyl had more side effects [mostly abdominal bloating] without a significantly better colon preparation).
• Björnsson ES, Bergmann OM, Björnsson HK, Kvaran RB, Olafsson S. Incidence, presentation and outcomes in patients with drug-induced liver injury in the general population of Iceland. Gastroenterology 2013; 144: 1419-25. [PubMed: 23419359]

  (In a population based study of drug induced liver injury from Iceland, 96 cases were identified over a 2 year period, but none were attributed to laxatives).
• Müller-Lissner S. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic considerations for the current chronic constipation treatments. Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol 2013; 9: 391-401. [PubMed: 23425050]

  (Review of the pharmacology, efficacy and safety of medications for constipation mentions that bisacodyl is minimally absorbed and is generally accepted as being safe).
• Kim HJ, Lee JH, Park HJ, Cho SH, Cho S, Kim WS. Monitoring of 29 weight loss compounds in foods and dietary supplements by LC-MS/MS. Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess 2014; 31: 777-83. [PubMed: 24499058]

  (Among 188 samples of 29 weight loss compounds sold as dietary supplements in Korea, 62 [33%] were found to be adulterated with conventional medications, including 7.1% with detectable levels of bisacodyl).
• Chalasani N, Bonkovsky HL, Fontana R, Lee W, Stolz A, Talwalkar J, Reddy KR, et al.; United States Drug Induced Liver Injury Network. Features and outcomes of 899 patients with drug-induced liver injury: The DILIN Prospective Study. Gastroenterology 2015; 148: 1340-52.e7. [PMC free article: PMC4446235] [PubMed: 25754159]

  (Among 899 cases of drug induced liver injury enrolled in a US prospective study between 2004 and 2013, none were attributed to bisacodyl or other laxatives).