Cholestyramine and Tetracycline Interaction

Drug interaction information between Cholestyramine and Tetracycline.

Cholestyramine and Tetracycline have a documented minor interaction in FDA labeling.

FDA drug labeling documents a minor-severity interaction between Cholestyramine and Tetracycline. This page displays the available source-record category and label text. The category is not an individual risk estimate or medication-combination direction.

Drug A

Cholestyramine

Bile Acid Sequestrant

Drug B

Tetracycline

Tetracycline Antibiotic

How They Interact

Cholestyramine can stick to tetracycline in your stomach, which prevents the antibiotic from being absorbed into your body. This could make the antibiotic less effective.

FDA Label Information

Drug Interactions Cholestyramine resin may delay or reduce the absorption of concomitant oral medication such as phenylbutazone, warfarin, thiazide diuretics (acidic) or propranolol (basic), as well as tetracycline, penicillin G, phenobarbital, thyroid and thyroxine preparations, estrogens and progestins and digitalis.

Cholestyramine Also Interacts With

View all Cholestyramine interactions →

Frequently Asked Questions

What SPL severity band is on file for Cholestyramine + Tetracycline?

Compiled FDA labeling labels this pair minor. That is a source-record field, not an individual medication-combination decision.

Which drug in this pair has the larger labeled-interaction portfolio?

Cholestyramine has 34 labeled pairs on file vs Tetracycline's 12. In the minor band specifically: Cholestyramine has 31 (also Propranolol, Warfarin, Phenobarbital, Amiodarone); Tetracycline has 8 (also Zinc Sulfate, Atovaquone/Proguanil, Colestipol, Dicloxacillin).

What mechanism field is on file for Cholestyramine and Tetracycline?

Cholestyramine can stick to tetracycline in your stomach, which prevents the antibiotic from being absorbed into your body. This could make the antibiotic less effective.

Tetracycline carries more major-labeled pairs than Cholestyramine

SPL source-record counts only. This page's band is minor · classes on file: Cholestyramine (Bile Acid Sequestrant); Tetracycline (Tetracycline Antibiotic).

Tetracycline has 1 major-labeled pair vs Cholestyramine's 0. This page itself is in the minor band, not the major band.

Cholestyramine

0 major · 3 moderate · 31 minor · 34 total

Tetracycline

1 major · 3 moderate · 8 minor · 12 total

Sources: FDA Drug Labels (SPL) via openFDA (2026). This is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. This registry does not provide individual medication-combination directions.