Cyclophosphamide can interact with other medications, as any other drug. Always inform your health care provider about all the drugs you are taking, as well as food supplements, diet or lifestyle peculiarities. It is recommended to compile the full list of medications in advance.
The list of medications interacting with cyclophosphamide may be incomplete, please consult with your doctor on cyclophosphamide interactions.
Certain anticonvulsants combined with cyclophosphamide may result in increased levels of cyclophosphamide in the blood and raise the risk of cyclophosphamide side effects . It you have to take these medicines together, cyclophosphamide dosage may have to be decreased. These anticonvulsants include:
o Phenobarbital (Luminal®)
o Phenytoin (Phenytek®, Dilantin®)
o Carbamazepine (Tegretol XR®, Epitol®, Equetro™, Tegretol®)
o Fosphenytoin (Cerebyx®)
o Pentobarbital (Nembutal®)
o Primidone (Mysoline®)
o Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal®)
Anthracycline chemotherapy medications taken together with cyclophosphamide may increase the risk of heart problems. If you have to take these medications together your heart should be carefully monitored. Anthracycline drugs include:
o Mitoxantrone (Novantrone®)
o Daunorubicin (Cerubidine®, DaunoXome®)
o Valrubicin (Valstar®)
o Doxorubicin (Adriamycin®, Doxil®)
o Epirubicin (Ellence®)
o Idarubicin (Idamycin®)
Live Vaccinations should be avoided because cyclophosphamide can suppress the activity of the immune system:
o Polio vaccine
o Chickenpox vaccine (varicella vaccine)
o Smallpox vaccine
o FluMist® (the nasal vaccine for influenza; the injected vaccine is not live)
o BCG vaccine (used in some countries for tuberculosis)
o Rotavirus vaccine
o Yellow fever vaccine
o MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella vaccine)
Rifamycin Antibiotics (rifabutin (Mycobutin®), rifampin (Rifadin®), and rifapentine (Priftin®)) taken together with cyclophosphamide can raise the possibility of side effects by increasing the levels of cyclophosphamide in the blood. As a rule, taking rifamycin antibiotics requires to lower cyclophosphamide dosage.

• Allopurinol (Zyloprim) intensifies the ability of cyclophosphamide to decrease production of blood cells from the bone marrow.
• Coumarin (Coumadin): cyclophosphamide intensifies the effect of blood thinners
• Quinolone antibiotics (Cipro): cyclophosphamide weakens the effect of quinolone antibiotics.
• Doxorubicin (Adriamycin): cyclophosphamide increases the possibility of heart failure caused by Doxorubicin.

barryCyclophosphamide Memo7 Dec, 2009