Erythromycin and Lovastatin Interaction
Drug interaction information between Erythromycin and Lovastatin.
Erythromycin and Lovastatin have a documented moderate interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a moderate-severity interaction between Erythromycin and Lovastatin. 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
Erythromycin blocks the natural process your body uses to get rid of lovastatin. This causes lovastatin to stay in your blood longer, which can be toxic to your muscles.
What To Do
Avoid using these drugs together. Your doctor may recommend stopping lovastatin temporarily while you finish your antibiotic treatment.
FDA Label Information
Strong inhibitors of CYP3A4 (e.g., itraconazole, ketoconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole, clarithromycin, telithromycin, HIV protease inhibitors, boceprevir, telaprevir, nefazodone, erythromycin, and cobicistat-containing products), and grapefruit juice increase the risk of myopathy by reducing the elimination of lovastatin (see CONTRAINDICATIONS , WARNINGS , Myopathy/Rhabdomyolysis , and CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY , Pharmacokinetics ).
Erythromycin Also Interacts With
- Eplerenone major
- Pitavastatin major
- Risperidone major
- Sildenafil major
- Lefamulin moderate
Lovastatin Also Interacts With
- Darunavir major
- Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir major
- Spironolactone moderate
- Ketoconazole moderate
- Verapamil moderate
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Erythromycin and Lovastatin together?
This is a moderate interaction. Avoid using these drugs together. Your doctor may recommend stopping lovastatin temporarily while you finish your antibiotic treatment.
How serious is the interaction between Erythromycin and Lovastatin?
This interaction is classified as "moderate" severity by the FDA. Moderate interactions may worsen your condition or change how your medications work.
Why do Erythromycin and Lovastatin interact?
Erythromycin blocks the natural process your body uses to get rid of lovastatin. This causes lovastatin to stay in your blood longer, which can be toxic to your muscles.
Understanding the Erythromycin and Lovastatin Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a moderate-severity interaction. Erythromycin belongs to the Macrolide Antibiotic class and Lovastatin belongs to the HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin) class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Erythromycin blocks the natural process your body uses to get rid of lovastatin. 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. Erythromycin has 63 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Lovastatin has 30. 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: Avoid using 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 Erythromycin or Lovastatin 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.