[Clinical and pharmacologic aspects of various betamethasone crystalline suspensions]

The commercially available betamethasone suspensions for injection used in this study have clearly shown quantitative differences in the combination of their easily hydrosoluble betamethasone esters and those difficult to dissolve in water, as well as in the shapes and sizes of their crystals. With regard to their influence on the endogenous cortisol production the two preparations have shown a highly deviating pharmaco-dynamic duration of action-corresponding to their different galenic composition (betamethasone phosphate/acetate approx. 7-8 days; betamethasone phosphate/dipropionate approx. 16-18 days). During the phase of suppression the reduced endogenous cortisol is largely compensated by the pharmaco-dynamic activity of the exogenous steroid.