Our mission

“It’s a well known fact that people with chronic adrenal insufficiency suffer from obesity, cardiovascular disease and other long-term side effects and that they suffer higher rates of mortality. We believe that the solution to the problem is a truly one-a-day therapy that better mimics the body’s own release of cortisol and makes it easier for patients to comply with therapy.”

DuoCort’s improved treatment

With its new and optimized drug delivery format, the DuoCort hydrocortisone dual-release tablet will address several problems. By achieving quick onset followed by an extended release over the day, the new therapy will quickly after waking give the patient the high morning levels that naturally occur, the declining levels needed over the rest of the day, and a cortisol-free interval at night – thus closely mimicking the natural biological rhythm of cortisol.  The DuoCort tablet will give physicians more flexibility in dosing and enable them to reduce doses in some cases, thereby reducing the risk of serious, long-term side-effects from chronic over-dosing.

DuoCort hydrocortisone dual-release tablet

The DuoCort hydrocortisone dual-release tablet - which is patent-protected and Orphan Drug designated - is a single tablet which combines both a rapid release dose and an extended release dose.

In order to better mimic the endogenous release profile, the new DuoCort tablet achieves rapid onset of part of the total dose, followed by the slow release of the remainder of the dose over the rest of the day.   The basic release requirements are, for the immediate release part, a maximum peak concentration in blood after about 20-40 minutes, roughly equivalent to the morning dose of hydrocortisone that is used today. The extended-release part provides a continuous gradually declining release over 12-16 hours instead of the peaks and troughs now delivered by the second and third daily doses of conventional tablets  Finally, the DuoCort profile delivers a cortisol-free interval during the night, thus mimicking the physiological release profile.

Advantages

• - The new DuoCort therapy will closely mimic the natural biological rhythm of cortisol thereby improving patients’ quality of life.
• - By facilitating improved individual dose titration, the new DuoCort therapy will contribute to better long term outcomes.
• - A once-daily medication is inherently safer than multiple daily dose therapy.