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Splitting, Cutting, or Dividing the INVOKANA Tablet

Last Updated: 05/02/2023

Summary

  • INVOKANA is supplied as immediate-release, film-coated tablets for oral administration.1
  • INVOKANAtablets formulated with croscarmellose as a disintegrant to provide immediate-release upon swallowing.2-4
  • In phase 3 clinical trials, the INVOKANA study drug was to be swallowed whole with liquid and not divided.

FORMULATION CONSIDERATIONS

  • INVOKANA tablets are not scored and are therefore not designed to be split.2
  • INVOKANA tablets, for oral use, are formulated with croscarmellose as a disintegrant to provide immediate release upon swallowing. The tablets are not enteric-coated, delayed-release, extended-release, or controlled-release.1, 3
  • No studies have been conducted by Janssen to establish bioequivalence between split and intact INVOKANA tablets.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

FDA Guidance

  • In March 2013, the FDA issued a guidance document regarding the scientific basis for functional scoring on solid oral dosage form products to ensure the quality of split tablet products. Scored tablets that meet certain criteria for splitability described in the FDA guidance can be labeled as having functional scoring.5 INVOKANA tablets are not scored and have not been evaluated against these FDA splitability criteria.

Professional Practice Guidelines

  • While there is no published information regarding splitting INVOKANA tablets, there are a few professional practice guidelines regarding the practice of splitting tablets.6-7

LITERATURE SEARCH

A literature search of MEDLINE® (and/or other resources, including internal/external databases) pertaining to this topic was conducted through October 29, 2022. No published reports pertaining to this topic were identified.

References

1 Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Clinical Review. Canagliflozin. May 31, 2012. Page 24.
2 U.S. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health. Health & Human Services. DailyMed. INVOKANA - canagliflozin tablet, film coated. Bethesda, MD. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=b9057d3b-b104-4f09-8a61-c61ef9d4a3f3. Accessed February 16, 2017.
3 Janssen Research & Development, LLC. Investigator's Brochure. Canagliflozin. May 15, 2020. EDMS-ERI-13482463, 23.0. Page 33.
4 Desai PM Liew CV, Heng PWS. Review of Disintegrants and the Disintegration Phenomena. J Pharm Sci. 2016;105(9):2545-2555. .
5 Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Guidance for Industry: Tablet Scoring: Nomenclature, Labeling, and Data for Evaluation. March 2013. https://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/guidances/ucm269921.pdf.
6 APhA Strategic Directions Committee. Tablet splitting: evaluating appropriateness for patients. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2004;44(3):324-325.
7 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). 0525-Mandatory Tablet Splitting for Cost Containment. ASHP Policy Positions 1982-2016. https://www.ashp.org/pharmacy-practice/policy-positions-and-guidelines/browse-by-document-type/policy-positions. Accessed March 22, 2016.