Drug Interactions With Imatinib

Potentially serious drug interactions can occur if imatinib is taken with acetaminophen, budesonide, erythromycin, and other products. These may interfere with the effectiveness of certain medications or may increase your risk for side effects. To help avoid complications and ensure your safety, tell your healthcare provider about any medications, vitamins, or herbal supplements you are taking.

An Overview of Imatinib Interactions

Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec^®) can potentially react with a number of other medications. Some of the drugs that may interact with imatinib include but are not limited to:

Acetaminophen (Tylenol^®)
Alfuzosin (Uroxatral^®)
Almotriptan (Axert^®)
Budesonide capsules (Entocort EC^®) and budesonide inhalation (Pulmicort^®)
Certain statin medications, such as:
- Lovastatin (Altoprev^®, Mevacor^®) or combination medications that contain lovastatin (Advicor^®)
- Simvastatin (Zocor^®) or combination medications that contain simvastatin (Vytorin^® or Simcor^®)

Colchicine (Colcrys^®)
CYP 3A4 inducer medications, such as:
- Aminoglutethimide (Cytadren^®)
- Bosentan (Tracleer^®)
- Carbamazepine (Carbatrol^®, Epitol^®, Equetro^®, Tegretol^®)
- Dexamethasone (Decadron^®, Dexpak^®, Maxidex^®)
- Efavirenz (Sustiva^®)
- Efavirenz, emtricitabine, and tenofovir (Atripla^®)
- Etravirine (Intelence™)
- Fosphenytoin (Cerebyx^®)
- Nafcillin
- Nevirapine (Viramune^®)
- Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal^®)
- Pentobarbital (Nembutal^®)
- Phenobarbital (Luminal^®)
- Phenytoin (Dilantin^®, Phenytek^®)
- Primidone (Mysoline^®)
- Rifabutin (Mycobutin^®)
- Rifampin (Rifadin^®)
- Rifapentine (Priftin^®)
- St. John's wort

CYP 3A4 inhibitor medications, such as:
- Amprenavir (Agenerase^®)
- Atazanavir (Reyataz^®)
- Clarithromycin (Biaxin^®)
- Conivaptan (Vaprisol^®)
- Crizotinib (Xalkori^®)
- Darunavir (Prezista^®)
- Delavirdine (Rescriptor^®)
- Erythromycin
- Fluconazole (Diflucan^®)
- Fosamprenavir (Lexiva^®)
- Indinavir (Crixivan^®)
- Isoniazid
- Itraconazole (Sporanox^®)
- Ketoconazole (Nizoral^®)
- Lopinavir and ritonavir (Kaletra^®)
- Miconazole
- Nefazodone (Serzone^®)
- Nelfinavir (Viracept^®)
- Nicardipine (Cardene^®)
- Posaconazole (Noxafil^®)
- Quinidine
- Ritonavir (Norvir^®)
- Saquinavir (Fortovase^®, Invirase^®)
- Telaprevir (INCIVEK™)
- Telithromycin (Ketek^®)
- Voriconazole (VFEND^®)

Denosumab (Prolia^®)
Echinacea
Eplerenone (Inspra^®)
Everolimus (Afinitor^®, Zortress^®)
Fentanyl (Abstral^®, Actiq^®, Duragesic^®, Fentora^®, Lazanda^®, Onsolis^®, Subsys^®)
Fesoterodine (Toviaz^®)
Fluticasone (Flovent^®)
Leflunomide (Arava^®)
"Live" vaccinations, such as:
- 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)

Lurasidone (Latuda^®)
Natalizumab (Tysabri^®)
P-glycoprotein inducers, such as:
- Carbamazepine (Carbatrol^®, Epitol^®, Equetro^®, Tegretol^®)
- Dexamethasone (Decadron^®)
- Doxorubicin (Adriamycin^®, Doxil^®)
- Nefazodone (Serzone^®)
- Prazosin (Minipress^®)
- Rifampin (Rifadin^®)
- St. John's wort
- Tipranavir (Aptivus^®)
- Trazodone (Desyrel^®) and trazodone ER (Oleptro™)
- Vinblastine

P-glycoprotein inhibitors, such as:
- Amiodarone (Cordarone^®, Pacerone^®)
- Atorvastatin (Lipitor^®, also found in Caduet^®)
- Carvedilol (Coreg^®, Coreg CR^®)
- Clarithromycin (Biaxin^®)
- Cyclosporine (Gengraf^®, Neoral^®, Sandimmune^®)
- Darunavir (Prezista^®)
- Dipyridamole (Persantine^®, also found in Aggrenox^®)
- Dronedarone (Multaq^®)
- Erythromycin
- Grapefruit juice
- Itraconazole (Sporanox^®)
- Ketoconazole (Nizoral^®)
- Lapatinib (Tykerb^®)
- Lopinavir and ritonavir (Kaletra^®)
- Mefloquine (Lariam^®)
- Nelfinavir (Viracept^®)
- Nicardipine (Cardene^®)
- Nilotinib (Tasigna^®)
- Progesterone
- Propranolol (Inderal^®, Inderal LA^®, InnoPran XL^®, also found in Inderide^®)
- Quinidine
- Ranolazine (Ranexa^®)
- Reserpine
- Ritonavir (Norvir^®, also found in Kaletra^®)
- Saquinavir (Invirase^®)
- Sunitinib
- Tacrolimus (Prograf^®, Protopic^®)
- Tamoxifen (Nolvadex^®)
- Telaprevir (INCIVEK™)
- Verapamil (Calan^®, Calan SR^®, Covera-HS^®, Isoptin SR^®, Verelan^®, Verelan PM^®)