Wherever you go, the one name that is often heard is “dolo650”. With covid19 alarmingly increasing in India, we’ve seen doctors prescribing dolo650 more than ever and people just consume this antipyretic just like Cadbury gems if they find a rise in their body temperature. Social media circulates a lot of false information saying that Dolo is one of the vital drugs that can save a person from COVID. Did you ever wonder what makes Dolo650 stand out from the other paracetamol tablets? Let see,

What is Dolo650?

The Karnataka-based pharma company Micro Lab’s antipyretic brand Dolo650 is a tablet or medicine used to reduce fever and relieve pain. This medicine works by inhibiting certain chemical messengers in the brain that detects pain. The word “Dolo” is derived from the word dolor which means pain. And since it has a dosage of 650mg of paracetamol, it is named so.

Dolo650 ~The Cadbury Gems of India in recent days

What is paracetamol?

Paracetamol is commonly used as an antipyretic (used to prevent or reduce temperature) and analgesic (painkiller), aiding in the treatment of headache, pain, fever, and other discomforts. It is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Normal doses of paracetamol are considered safe while higher doses cause hepatic disorders (these drugs in high concentration are toxic to the liver and the hepatocytes die in the process of eliminating them). The quality of the different commercially available forms of paracetamols can be determined using the parameters, hardness, friability, weight variation and disintegration time, dissolution profile. The therapeutic effect depends on these parameters.[1]

ACETAMINOPHEN – The Paracetamol

(C8H9NO2) N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)acetamide, N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethanamide

Dosage and Aspects

Weight variation is one of the important parameters to be noted here as it indicates the variation of the dosage weight with respect to time. Variation in weight leads to under dosage or overdosage. Hardness is defined as the strength required to break the tablet across its diameter. Friability is defined as the measure of loss of weight due to the removal of tablet particles while undergoing processes like coating, packaging, and shipment. The time that tablet takes to disintegrate into small residues is known as disintegration time and Dissolution is the amount of drug substance that goes into solution per unit of time.[2]

Since Dolo650 has some desirable values of all the parameters mentioned above, it is prescribed by most of the doctors during the covid19 crisis. It has a higher dosage of paracetamol (650mg) than its counterparts (500mg), therefore dolo650 is preferred. This tablet works effectively for age groups above 18 years and children below 18 can be administered lesser dosages of paracetamol.

Women consuming dolo650
The Internet Talk
Side effects of Dolo650:

Some of the most important and common side effects of Dolo650, when used frequently, are body weakness, low blood pressure, nausea, constipation, etc. Some of the long term effects are hepatic failure, renal failure, decreased lung function, etc. with the liver having the most risk. even though the medicine is doing good for the body, it is doing bad for the liver. If the person has a medical history like brain disorders, kidney disease, heart problems, breathing problem, stomach or intestinal problems, it’s recommended to consult the doctor regarding its consumption. People with allergies to medications such as benzhydrocodone, hydromorphone, morphine, and Codeine should also consult the doctor before consumption.

As the medium to spread false information is easily available in the palm of our hands, people don’t realize how misleading the false information could be. For instance, people with medical conditions mentioned earlier take this medication on their own without a doctor’s consultation after reading those stuff on the internet which could turn out to be fatal. It is easy for someone to type it out of their fingers or just click the forward button but it could be lethal for someone else. So think before your forward a message or say something through social media.

Dolo650 has achieved massive sales of Rs. 567 crores from march 2020 since the pandemic started. It was also called the “favorite snack of India” as the country is fighting against the third wave of Covid19.

[1] Kar, A., Amin, M. N., Hossain, M. S., Mukul, M. E. H., Rashed, M. S. U., & Ibrahim, M. (2015). Quality analysis of different marketed brands of paracetamol available in Bangladesh. International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, 4(9), 432–435.

[2] Nayak, S., Rakshita, A.S., Shwetha, S., and Kamath, K. 2019. Study of Post Compression Parameters of Various Marketed Paracetamol Tablets in India. PharmaTutor. 7, 2 (Feb. 2019), 35-42. 

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