Patients prescribed the laxative dantron (danthron) who are not terminally ill should be transferred to other treatments, the Committee on Safety of Medicines and the Medicines Control Agency have advised (Current Problems in Pharmacovigilance 2000;26:4).
Following an evaluation of the risk-benefit ratio for dantron, the CSM has tightened the product's already restricted indications. Dantron, which is marketed as co-danthramer (combined with poloxamer 188) and co-danthrusate (combined with docusate), is no longer indicated for constipation in cardiac failure and coronary thrombosis, as stated in the British National Formulary (No 39, March 2000).
The CSM says that these changes have been made because dantron "has now been established as a potential human carcinogen" and because other laxatives are available for use in similar clinical settings.