Bromocriptine

Bromocriptine is used to treat menstrual problems, growth hormone overproduction, Parkinson's disease, and pituitary tumors. It can also stop breast milk production and help control blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. Bromocriptine is also effectively used to treat acromegaly and conditions associated with hyperprolactinemia like amenorrhea, infertility, and hypogonadism, prolactin-secreting adenomas; in addition to preventing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Since the late 1980s, it is used, off-label, to reduce the symptoms of cocaine withdrawal but the evidence for this use is poor. Bromocriptine was originally marketed as Parlodel and subsequently under many names like Bromoergocriptine, Cabergoline to name a few. Sandoz discovered Bromocriptine in 1965 and first published about it in 1968. The FDA approved a quick-release formulation of Bromocriptine in 2009.

Dosage Forms & Strengths

Bromocriptine is available as an oral tablet and an oral capsule. In the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, the usual adult dosage is 2.5mg tablet or 5mg capsule. In the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, the recommended adult dose is 0.8mg tablets. And in the treatment of Hyperprolactinemia-Associated Dysfunctions, the dose is a 2.5 mg tablet. In the treatment of Parkinson Disease, Bromocriptine is used as adjunctive therapy to levodopa to alleviate symptoms of idiopathic/postencephalitic Parkinson disease. The usual adult dose for this therapy is 2.5 mg taken every 12 hours initially. This can be increased to 2.5 mg, twice a day for 4 weeks or until an optimal therapeutic response is achieved. In the treatment of Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, the Off-label recommended dose is 2.5-5 mg, taken 2-3 times a day.

The price of Bromocriptine:

In the USA, the average retail price for a supply for 30 tablets of 2.5 mg strength is around $123.96. However, this medicine is cheaper in the developing world. The price for a supply of 30 tablets of 2.5mg is US$3.5.

How does it work?

Bromocriptine is a unique medicine. It does not have a specific receptor that mediates its action on glucose and lipid metabolism. Its effects are rather mediated through resetting of dopaminergic and sympathetic tone within the Central Nervous System. Bromocriptine cures hyperprolactinemia by decreasing the amount of prolactin, treats acromegaly by decreasing the amount of growth hormone, and helps Parkinson's patients by stimulating the nerves that control movement.

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