This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Morphine to oxycodone equivalence in chronic usage

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Oxycodone

10mg oral oxycodone = 5mg SC oxycodone = 10mg SC morphine = 20mg oral morphine

Oxycodone has good oral bioavailability. The example above illustrates the dose conversion when oxycodone is regarded as being 2 times more potent than oral morphine.

Oxycodone is an alternative option if morphine is not tolerated.

Care should be taken to ensure clarity when prescribing immediate release capsules or modified release tablets. The modified release tablets also deliver a small dose which is immediate release.

Reference:

  • 1) West Midlands Palliative Care Physicians (2012). Palliative care - guidelines for the use of drugs in symptoms control.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page