Betamethasone Dipropionate

Betamethasone dipropionate cream is a medium-potency corticosteroid indicated for relief of the inflammatory and pruritic manifestations of corticosteroid responsive dermatoses in patients 13 years and older.

Apply a thin film of betamethasone dipropionate cream USP, 0.05% to the affected skin areas once daily. In some cases, twice-daily dosage may be necessary.

Betamethasone dipropionate cream USP, 0.05% should not be used with occlusive dressings.

The following local adverse reactions are reported infrequently when betamethasone dipropionate cream USP, 0.05% is used as recommended in the

Systemic absorption of topical corticosteroids has produced reversible hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis suppression, manifestations of Cushing's syndrome, hyperglycemia, and glucosuria in some patients.

Betamethasone Dipropionate Cream USP, 0.05% contains betamethasone dipropionate, USP, a synthetic adrenocorticosteroid, for dermatologic use. Betamethasone, an analog of prednisolone, has a high degree of glucocorticoid activity and a slight mineralocorticoid activity.

Betamethasone dipropionate is the 17, 21-dipropionate ester of betamethasone.

Betamethasone dipropionate is a white to creamy white, odorless crystalline powder, insoluble in water.

Chemically, it is 9-Fluoro-11β,17,21-trihydroxy-16β-methylpregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione 17,21-dipropionate. The structural formula is:

Each gram of Betamethasone Dipropionate Cream USP, 0.05% contains: 0.643 mg betamethasone dipropionate USP (equivalent to 0.5 mg betamethasone), in a hydrophilic emollient cream consisting of cetomacrogol 1000, cetostearyl alcohol, mineral oil, propylene glycol, purified water, sodium phosphate monobasic, white petrolatum, chlorocresol as preservative, and phosphoric acid and/or sodium hydroxide for pH adjustment.

The corticosteroids are a class of compounds comprising steroid hormones, secreted by the adrenal cortex and their synthetic analogs. In pharmacologic doses corticosteroids are used primarily for their anti-inflammatory and/or immunosuppressive effects.

Topical corticosteroids, such as betamethasone dipropionate, are effective in the treatment of corticosteroid-responsive dermatoses primarily because of their anti-inflammatory, antipruritic, and vasoconstrictive actions. However, while the physiologic, pharmacologic, and clinical effects of the corticosteroids are well known, the exact mechanisms of their actions in each disease are uncertain. Betamethasone dipropionate, a corticosteroid, has been shown to have topical (dermatologic) and systemic pharmacologic and metabolic effects characteristic of this class of drugs.