The extended release means you only have to remember to take the medication once a day instead of twice.

What we need is for these pills to be compounded the way they do opioids: the wax granules are arranged to attempt to keep you from getting a burst dose by crushing the pills. The same process that makes crushing work makes splitting not work. So if you make split pills still time release, no problem.

But not for saving pills. Some people are exquisitely sensitive to these medications and you need 25mg per day but it only comes in multiples of 10 up to 50. So you’d like to split a 50 and take 1/2 pill per day. Also the 40mg often costs only 30-40% more than the 20.