Precautions
Before taking this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to it; or if you have any other allergies. Talk to your pharmacist for more details.
Before using this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist your medical history, especially of:
- lung disease (e.g., pulmonary fibrosis)
- severe kidney disease, eye problems
- stomach/intestinal ulcers
- other stomach/intestinal problems (such as diverticulitis, blockage, bowel disease)
- smoking
- cancer that has spread to the bowels
Gefitinib is not recommended for use during pregnancy. It may cause harm to an unborn baby. Consult your doctor for more details.
It is not known whether this drug passes into breast milk. Due to the potential risk to the infant, breast-feeding while using gefitinib is not recommended.
Interactions
Before using this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist of all prescription and nonprescription products you may use, especially of:
- “blood thinners” (warfarin)
- drugs which reduce stomach acid (e.g., ranitidine, cimetidine, famotidine, omeprazole, lansoprazole, rabeprazole)
- certain liver enzyme inhibitors (CYP 3A4 inhibitors such as ketoconazole, itraconazole, erythromycin, clarithromycin)
- vinorelbine
- NSAIDs (such as ibuprofen, naproxen)
- corticosteroids (such as prednisone)
Your dosage of gefitinib may need to be increased if you are using some liver enzyme inducer medications such as rifamycins (e.g., rifampin, rifabutin), St. John’s wort or phenytoin. Consult your doctor or pharmacist for more details.
This document does not contain all possible interactions. Therefore, before using this product, tell your doctor or pharmacist of all the products you use. Keep a list of all your medications with you, and share the list with your doctor and pharmacist.
