Drug Interactions With Rituximab

"Live" vaccines can interact with rituximab, possibly suppressing your immune system enough to make the vaccinations unsafe and ineffective. In addition, several other drugs can interact with rituximab, including echinacea, cisplatin, and blood pressure medications. These reactions can increase your risk of infections and other problems. If such problems are a concern, your healthcare provider may decide to monitor you more closely.

Rituximab Drug Information

An Overview of Rituximab Interactions

Rituximab (Rituxan^®) can potentially interact with a few other medications. Some of the drugs that may lead to interactions with rituximab include:

Abciximab (ReoPro^®)
Blood pressure medications
Certolizumab pegol (Cimzia^®)
Cisplatin (Platinol^®)
Echinacea
Leflunomide (Arava^®)
"Live" vaccinations, including:

Chickenpox vaccine (varicella vaccine)
FluMist^® (the nasal vaccine for influenza; the injected vaccine is not live)
MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella vaccine)
Polio vaccine
Rotavirus vaccine
Smallpox vaccine
Yellow fever vaccine
BCG vaccine (used in some countries for tuberculosis)

Drug Interactions With Rituximab Explained

The following sections explain in detail the potentially negative interactions that can occur when rituximab is combined with any of the drugs listed above.

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