Is Echinacea Safe with Clarithromycin?
Free · No account · based on published sources including NIH ODS, FDA drug labels, and peer-reviewed literature
Use caution combining Echinacea with Clarithromycin. Echinacea may mildly speed up Clarithromycin metabolism via CYP3A4. Monitor for reduced effectiveness.
Why this interaction occurs
Echinacea modestly induces hepatic CYP3A4. Result: slightly decreased drug levels. Low clinical risk for most drugs but avoid with immunosuppressants
Evidence
Evidence level: moderate.
Reported safety data
The FDA’s adverse event reporting system (FAERS) has received 37,389 reports mentioning Clarithromycin. This reflects reported cases involving the medication in general — not confirmed causation, and not specific to the Clarithromycin + supplement combination on this page.
FAERS reports are voluntary and cannot prove that a drug caused an event. Do not use report counts to assess the safety of this specific drug-supplement pair.
Frequently asked questions
Related interactions
All Echinacea interactions → · All Clarithromycin interactions →
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Educational only — not medical advice.
Always confirm with your doctor or pharmacist.