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What the label lists and what reports show

Perphenazine side effects

Perphenazine's FDA label lists its adverse reactions in its own words. FAERS holds 2,076 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 toxicity to various agents (285 reports).

  • Generic listed
  • Boxed warning

Check it at the source: the perphenazine FDA label on DailyMed (effective December 12, 2024, Rising Pharma Holdings, Inc.); the FDA FAERS public dashboard.

What does the label list?

From the label: adverse reactions

Not all of the following adverse reactions have been reported with this specific drug; however, pharmacological similarities among various phenothiazine derivatives require that each be considered. With the piperazine group (of which perphenazine is an example), the extrapyramidal symptoms are more common, and others (e.g., sedative effects, jaundice, and blood dyscrasias) are less frequently seen. CNS Effects Extrapyramidal Reactions opisthotonus, trismus, torticollis, retrocollis, aching and numbness of the limbs, motor restlessness, oculogyric crisis, hyperreflexia, dystonia, including protrusion, discoloration, aching and rounding of the tongue, tonic spasm of the masticatory muscles, tight feeling in the throat, slurred speech, dysphagia, akathisia, dyskinesia, parkinsonism, and ataxia. …

Source: FDA drug label, Rising Pharma Holdings, Inc., effective December 12, 2024 (SPL set 0ebf4c11-1810-42f6-a8e3-071616e33d5d), via openFDA; the full label on DailyMed

What do FAERS reports show?

2,076 reports list perphenazine among the medicines taken, each a report of something that happened, not proof the medicine caused it; 222 are coded as a death and 1,015 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 18 reactions below, 5 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

  • Drug Ineffective (a use or a product term, not a reaction)360
  • Toxicity To Various Agents285
  • Weight Increased224
  • Akathisia (named in the label)186
  • Suicide Attempt181
  • Off Label Use (a use or a product term, not a reaction)179
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder164
  • Increased Appetite156
  • Product Use In Unapproved Indication (a use or a product term, not a reaction)156
  • Euphoric Mood154
  • Antipsychotic Drug Level Below Therapeutic150
  • Disinhibition149
  • Therapeutic Product Effect Incomplete (a use or a product term, not a reaction)144
  • Therapeutic Product Effect Variable (a use or a product term, not a reaction)141
  • Leukopenia (named in the label)140
  • Drug Interaction (a use or a product term, not a reaction)131
  • Hypertension (named in the label)120
  • Fatigue107
  • Fall106
  • Pain102
  • Tardive Dyskinesia (named in the label)101
  • Dyspnoea99
  • Nausea (a use or a product term, not a reaction)97
  • Obesity94
  • Dyskinesia (named in the label)91

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

What next?

Perphenazine: the full record
label, generics, price, shortages, recalls
Side effects hub
the most reported medicines and reactions