Amiodarone Hcl
Brand names: Amiodarone Hcl, Pacerone
At a glance
- Medicare prescriptions, 2024
- 2,461,146
- Medicare drug cost
- $59.6M
- Average cost per prescription
- $24.23
- Clinicians who prescribed it
- 58,763
Where it is prescribed
List the prescribers in any state, county, city or ZIP code →
What it is used for
Pacerone is indicated for the treatment of documented, life-threatening recurrent ventricular fibrillation and life-threatening recurrent hemodynamically unstable tachycardia in adults who have not responded to adequate doses of other available antiarrhythmics or when alternative agents cannot be tolerated.
From the FDA-approved prescribing information (label dated July 2025). Full labels on DailyMed (opens in a new tab)
Boxed warning
WARNING: PULMONARY, HEPATIC and CARDIAC TOXICITY Pacerone is intended for use only in patients with the indicated life-threatening arrhythmias because its use is accompanied by substantial toxicity. Pacerone can cause pulmonary toxicity (hypersensitivity pneumonitis or interstitial/alveolar pneumonitis) that has resulted in clinically manifest disease at rates as high as 17% in some series of patients. Pulmonary toxicity has been fatal about 10% of the time. Obtain a baseline chest X-ray and pulmonary-function tests, including diffusion capacity, when Pacerone therapy is initiated. Repeat history, physical exam, and chest X-ray every 3 to 6 months. Pacerone can cause hepatoxicity, which can be fatal. Obtain baseline and periodic liver transaminases and discontinue or reduce dose if the increase exceeds three times normal, or doubles in a patient with an elevated baseline. Discontinue…
The FDA’s strongest warning on a label. It doesn’t mean the drug is unsafe for most people; talk to your doctor or pharmacist before stopping or changing any medicine.
Who prescribes it
- Cardiology 27.0%
- Nurse Practitioners 17.2%
- Internal Medicine 13.9%
- Cardiac Electrophysiology 11.0%
- Family Medicine 10.7%
- Interventional Cardiology 8.8%
- Physician Assistants 5.5%
- Geriatric Medicine 1.6%
- Hospitalist 1.1%
- Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology 0.9%
- General Practice 0.7%
- Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) 0.3%
All prescribers, by place, name or specialty →
Share of Medicare prescriptions written by each specialty. Select one to list its prescribers.
Trend, 2019–2024
Medicare prescriptions rose 16% from 2019 to 2024.
Biggest change by state since 2019
- Utah +48%
- Idaho +45%
- Maine +45%
- Minnesota +35%
- New Hampshire +32%
- Mississippi (smallest change) −2%
- Nebraska (smallest change) −2%
From CMS’s yearly state and national Part D summaries, which count every prescriber, including those CMS leaves out of its per-clinician data (fewer than 11 prescriptions). That is why these totals are higher than the count at the top of this page. Prescriptions include refills.
What it looks like
Pills from 2 makers on file. The same medicine can look different depending on who made it, so check the imprint (the letters and numbers on the pill) with your pharmacist if a refill looks different.
Bryant Ranch Prepack
| Strength | Looks like | Imprint |
|---|---|---|
| 100 mg | yellow round tablet, 7 mm | P U S 144 |
Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC
| Strength | Looks like | Imprint |
|---|---|---|
| 100 mg | yellow round tablet, 7 mm | P U S 144 |
| 200 mg | pink round tablet, 11 mm, scored to split in 2 | P200 U S 0147 |
| 400 mg | white round tablet, 13 mm | P400 U S 1645 |
Source: DailyMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine), from each maker’s FDA drug listing. A few makers are shown, not every one. Never take a pill you can’t identify; ask a pharmacist.
Industry payments about this drug
No industry payments to clinicians named this drug in 2025.
Recalls and shortages
Not on the FDA drug shortage list.
No FDA-reported recalls since 2020.
Sources: CMS Medicare Part D Prescribers by Provider and Drug (2024; prescriptions include refills, and CMS hides counts under 11 per prescriber); U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA (drug labels, NDC directory, enforcement reports, drug shortages); CMS Open Payments 2025; ClinicalTrials.gov. General information only, not medical advice; not yet reviewed by our medical reviewer.