What the label lists and what reports show

Carboprost side effects

Carboprost's FDA label: “The most common complications when HEMABATE was utilized for abortion requiring additional treatment after discharge from the hospital were endometritis, retained placental fragments, and excessive uterine bleeding, occurring in about one in every 50 patients.” FAERS holds 712 reports naming it through July 30, 2026; the reaction reported most often, leaving out the conditions it is used for, product-use terms and outcomes, is vomiting (218 reports).

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Check it at the source: the carboprost FDA label on DailyMed (effective March 30, 2026, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC); the FDA FAERS public dashboard.

What does the label list?

From the label: adverse reactions
The most common complications when HEMABATE was utilized for abortion requiring additional treatment after discharge from the hospital were endometritis, retained placental fragments, and excessive uterine bleeding, occurring in about one in every 50 patients.

From the label: adverse reactions, continued
The adverse effects of HEMABATE Sterile Solution are generally transient and reversible when therapy ends. The most frequent adverse reactions observed are related to its contractile effect on smooth muscle. In patients studied, approximately two-thirds experienced vomiting and diarrhea, approximately one-third had nausea, one-eighth had a temperature increase greater than 2° F, and one-fourteenth experienced flushing. The pretreatment or concurrent administration of antiemetic and antidiarrheal drugs decreases considerably the very high incidence of gastrointestinal effects common with all prostaglandins used for abortion. Their use should be considered an integral part of the management of patients undergoing abortion with HEMABATE. Of those patients experiencing a temperature elevation, approximately one-sixteenth had a clinical diagnosis of endometritis. The remaining temperature elevations returned to normal within several hours after the last injection.

Source: FDA drug label, NDA017989 (Pfizer), as published by Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, effective March 30, 2026 (SPL set 3d282998-ff0c-480a-bd80-155606ef0a65), via openFDA; the full label on DailyMed

What do FAERS reports show?

712 reports list carboprost among the medicines taken, each a report of something that happened, not proof the medicine caused it; 2 are coded as a death and 74 as a hospital stay. Counts follow how widely a medicine is used and watched, and they are not a measure of how risky it is. Of the 23 reactions below, 9 are named by the same term (in US spelling) in the label's adverse reactions, warnings or patient leaflet; a reaction the label does not name may still be there under another word, and a report does not show that the medicine caused it.

Reports received each year

The 25 most reported reactions

Vomiting (named in the label)218
Nausea (named in the label)194
Off Label Use (a use or a product term, not a reaction)144
Diarrhoea (named in the label)138
Abdominal Pain Upper97
Chest Discomfort90
Abdominal Discomfort69
Abdominal Pain69
Dyspnoea (named in the label)65
Blood Pressure Increased60
Palpitations (named in the label)40
Hyperhidrosis39
Gastrointestinal Disorder38
Dizziness (named in the label)37
Headache (named in the label)37
Pruritus34
Discomfort29
Heart Rate Increased29
Oxygen Saturation Decreased29
Rash (named in the label)26
Flushing (named in the label)24
Drug Ineffective (a use or a product term, not a reaction)23
Tachypnoea23
Asthenia21
Cough21

Source: FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) via openFDA, reports through July 30, 2026; reactions as MedDRA preferred terms

What next?

Carboprost: the full record: label, generics, price, shortages, recalls
Report a side effect to the FDA: MedWatch
Side effects hub: the most reported medicines and reactions