Bisacodyl
chemical compound
Bisacodyl is an organic compound that is used as a stimulant laxative drug. It works directly on the colon to produce a bowel movement. It is typically prescribed for relief of episodic and chronic constipation and for the management of neurogenic bowel dysfunction, as well as part of bowel preparation before medical examinations, such as for a colonoscopy.
Bisacodyl is a derivative of triphenylmethane. It was first used as a laxative in 1953 because of its structural similarity to phenolphthalein.
It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. In 2023, it was the 293rd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 400,000 prescriptions.
Medical uses
Bisacodyl is used to treat both episodic and chronic constipation, manage symptoms of neurogenic bowel dysfunction, as well as for bowel preparation for a colonoscopy.
Available forms
Bisacodyl is marketed under the trade names Dulcolax/Durolax, Muxol, Fleet, Nourilax, Alophen, Correctol, and Carter's Little Pills (formerly Carter's Little Liver Pills), as well as being available generically. It is usually sold as 5 mg tablets, 10 mg suppositories, or 5 mg pediatric suppositories.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q417874. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1953 and 2023.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bisacodyl” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.