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Morphine Extended Release (MS Contin)

Opioidoral · predicted

Controlled-release morphine sulfate matrix tablet providing 12-hour delivery for twice-daily dosing in opioid-tolerant patients. Swallow whole; crushing or chewing releases the full dose at once and can be fatal.

Projected serum levels — 30 mg, once daily

Morphine Extended Release (MS Contin)
Morphine Extended Release (MS Contin) modeled serum levels, 30 mg once daily over 15 days Population-based pharmacokinetic estimate. Steady state reached after approximately 1 days. 0 1.3 2.5 3.8 5 Day 0 Day 4 Day 8 Day 11 Day 15 Time on a regular schedule ≈ steady state · day 1

Maintenance schedule: 30 mg once daily (oral).

Modeled steady state after ~1 days: peak ≈ 2.5 mg, trough ≈ 0.063 mg body load. Population-based estimate over 15 days for a 30 mg dose at a 70 kg reference body mass — the interactive app scales curves to your doses, timing, and body mass.

Key facts

Category
Opioid
Route modeled
Oral
Model confidence
predicted
Half-life
3.5 h
Common dose
30 mg
Suggested maximum
90 mg/day
Reference dose range
15–90 mg (single dose)
Suggested cadence
once daily

Research behind this entry

  1. Clinical Pharmacokinetics of Morphine Sawe J · Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 1986 DOI

    Comprehensive review of morphine pharmacokinetics including oral bioavailability of 20-30%, hepatic first-pass metabolism, glucuronidation to M3G and active M6G, and a terminal half-life of 2-3 hours.

  2. Morphine in Postoperative Patients: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Metabolites Lotsch J et al. · Anesthesia & Analgesia, 2006 DOI

    Found morphine-6-glucuronide was 7.8 times more potent than morphine but with a delayed peak effect of 4.25 h compared to 0.33 h for morphine in postoperative patients.

  3. A Review of Morphine and Morphine-6-Glucuronide Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Relationships in Experimental and Clinical Pain Klimas R, Mikus G · European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2014 DOI

    Reviewed population PK-PD models for morphine analgesia, covering drug disposition, active M6G metabolite pharmacology, and clinical variability in pain response.

  4. Effect of Opioid vs Nonopioid Medications on Pain-Related Function in Patients With Chronic Back Pain or Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis Pain: The SPACE Randomized Clinical Trial Krebs EE et al. · JAMA, 2018 DOI

    12-month RCT of 240 veterans found opioids (including sustained-release morphine) were NOT superior to non-opioid therapy for pain-related function in chronic back/hip/knee pain; pain intensity was actually worse in the…

5 published studies referenced in the app, each with a plain-language summary.