Clopidogrel and Rifampin Interaction
Drug interaction information between Clopidogrel and Rifampin.
Clopidogrel and Rifampin have a documented moderate interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a moderate-severity interaction between Clopidogrel and Rifampin. Major interactions are generally avoided, moderate ones may need monitoring or a dose adjustment, and minor ones are usually low-risk. This page shows the documented mechanism and guidance. Label-documented interactions are not a complete safety review, so always confirm your own medications with a pharmacist or doctor. Educational information, not medical advice.
How They Interact
Rifampin speeds up the process that turns clopidogrel into its active form in the body. This leads to higher levels of the active drug, which can make your blood too thin and increase the risk of bleeding.
What To Do
Your doctor should monitor you closely for signs of bleeding while taking these drugs together. They may need to adjust your treatment plan to ensure your safety.
FDA Label Information
Rifampin strongly induces CYP2C19 resulting to both an increase level of clopidogrel active metabolite and platelet inhibition, which in particular might potentiate the risk of bleeding.
Clopidogrel Also Interacts With
- Omeprazole moderate
- Warfarin moderate
- Esomeprazole moderate
- Norepinephrine moderate
- Apixaban moderate
Rifampin Also Interacts With
- Darunavir major
- Bictegravir/Emtricitabine/Tenofovir major
- Glecaprevir/Pibrentasvir major
- Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir major
- Pitavastatin major
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Clopidogrel and Rifampin together?
This is a moderate interaction. Your doctor should monitor you closely for signs of bleeding while taking these drugs together. They may need to adjust your treatment plan to ensure your safety.
How serious is the interaction between Clopidogrel and Rifampin?
This interaction is classified as "moderate" severity by the FDA. Moderate interactions may worsen your condition or change how your medications work.
Why do Clopidogrel and Rifampin interact?
Rifampin speeds up the process that turns clopidogrel into its active form in the body. This leads to higher levels of the active drug, which can make your blood too thin and increase the risk of bleeding.
Understanding the Clopidogrel and Rifampin Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a moderate-severity interaction. Clopidogrel belongs to the Antiplatelet Agent class and Rifampin belongs to the Rifamycin Antibiotic class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Rifampin speeds up the process that turns clopidogrel into its active form in the body. Severity tiers matter: major flags generally advise avoidance, moderate flags often require monitoring or dose adjustment, and minor flags may only call for awareness.
Context around a specific patient determines real-world impact. Clopidogrel has 19 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Rifampin has 137. Each additional medication compounds the interaction surface, which is why pharmacists run full-profile checks rather than evaluating one pair at a time. FDA-derived guidance for this pair is: Your doctor should monitor you closely for signs of bleeding while taking these drugs together. Timing of doses, renal and hepatic function, age, and other concurrent prescriptions all shape whether a labeled interaction matters clinically.
An interaction flag is not a verdict. A large share of labeled interactions are managed routinely in clinical practice, the fix may be as simple as spacing doses or adding a monitoring test. Others require the prescriber to choose a different medication entirely. This page surfaces FDA-sourced labeling and openFDA data for educational purposes only; it is not medical advice and cannot account for your full clinical picture. Never start, stop, or adjust either Clopidogrel or Rifampin based on a web page, speak with your prescriber or pharmacist before making any change.
Sources: FDA Drug Labels (SPL) via openFDA (2026). This is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider about drug interactions.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.