A patient transferring prescriptions from another pharmacy lists "Actos, one tablet every morning" for type 2 diabetes. Which active ingredient should the pharmacy technician enter?
ARosiglitazone✗ Incorrect
Rosiglitazone is a different diabetes drug sold as Avandia. Its name looks similar but it is not the ingredient in Actos.
BPioglitazone✓ Correct
Correct. Actos is the brand name for pioglitazone, a thiazolidinedione.
CMetformin✗ Incorrect
Metformin is the ingredient in Glucophage. It appears with pioglitazone in some combination tablets but is not Actos itself.
DSitagliptin✗ Incorrect
Sitagliptin belongs to the DPP-4 inhibitors, a separate class of diabetes medicine, and is not the active ingredient in Actos.
Answer
B. Pioglitazone
Rationale
Actos contains pioglitazone, an oral diabetes medicine in the thiazolidinedione class. Avandia contains rosiglitazone, while Glucophage contains metformin. Sitagliptin is a DPP-4 inhibitor, and combination products containing pioglitazone and metformin also exist.
RememberActos = pioglitazone; Avandia = rosiglitazone. Check the full name, not just the -glitazone ending.
