Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine Interaction
Drug interaction information between Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine.
Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine have a documented minor interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a minor-severity interaction between Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine. 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
Olanzapine can reduce the blood-sugar-lowering power of insulin, which may lead to higher blood sugar readings.
What To Do
Your doctor may need to increase your insulin dose and will likely ask you to check your blood sugar more often.
FDA Label Information
Drugs That May Decrease the Blood Glucose Lowering Effect of BASAGLAR Drugs: Atypical antipsychotics (e.g., olanzapine and clozapine), corticosteroids, danazol, diuretics, estrogens, glucagon, isoniazid, niacin, oral contraceptives, phenothiazines, progestogens (e.g., in oral contraceptives), protease inhibitors, somatropin, sympathomimetic agents (e.g., albuterol, epinephrine, terbutaline), and thyroid hormones Intervention: Dose increases and increased frequency of glucose monitoring may be required when BASAGLAR is co-administered with these drugs.
Insulin Glargine Also Interacts With
- Fluoxetine moderate
- Pramlintide moderate
- Octreotide moderate
- Albuterol minor
- Clonidine minor
Olanzapine Also Interacts With
- Fluoxetine major
- Tetrabenazine moderate
- Omeprazole minor
- Warfarin minor
- Diazepam minor
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine together?
This is a minor interaction. Your doctor may need to increase your insulin dose and will likely ask you to check your blood sugar more often.
How serious is the interaction between Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine?
This interaction is classified as "minor" severity by the FDA. Minor interactions are unlikely to cause significant problems but should still be mentioned to your healthcare provider.
Why do Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine interact?
Olanzapine can reduce the blood-sugar-lowering power of insulin, which may lead to higher blood sugar readings.
Understanding the Insulin Glargine and Olanzapine Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a minor-severity interaction. Insulin Glargine belongs to the Long-Acting Insulin class and Olanzapine belongs to the Atypical Antipsychotic class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Olanzapine can reduce the blood-sugar-lowering power of insulin, which may lead to higher blood sugar readings. 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. Insulin Glargine has 11 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Olanzapine has 26. 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 may need to increase your insulin dose and will likely ask you to check your blood sugar more often. 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 Insulin Glargine or Olanzapine 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.