Pioglitazone and Leflunomide Interaction

Drug interaction information between Pioglitazone and Leflunomide.

Pioglitazone and Leflunomide have a documented minor interaction in FDA labeling.

FDA drug labeling documents a minor-severity interaction between Pioglitazone and Leflunomide. 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

Pioglitazone

Thiazolidinedione

Drug B

Leflunomide

Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (DMARD)

How They Interact

Leflunomide slows down the process your liver uses to break down pioglitazone. This can result in higher levels of pioglitazone in your blood.

FDA Label Information

In patients taking leflunomide, exposure of drugs metabolized by CYP2C8 (e.g., paclitaxel, pioglitazone, repaglinide, rosiglitazone) may be increased.

Frequently Asked Questions

What SPL severity band is on file for Pioglitazone + Leflunomide?

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?

Leflunomide has 20 labeled pairs on file vs Pioglitazone's 10. In the minor band specifically: Pioglitazone has 9 (also Rifampin, Gemfibrozil, Abiraterone, Dapagliflozin); Leflunomide has 20 (also Atorvastatin, Rosuvastatin, Simvastatin, Furosemide).

What mechanism field is on file for Pioglitazone and Leflunomide?

Leflunomide slows down the process your liver uses to break down pioglitazone. This can result in higher levels of pioglitazone in your blood.

Pioglitazone carries more major-labeled pairs than Leflunomide

SPL source-record counts only. This page's band is minor · classes on file: Pioglitazone (Thiazolidinedione); Leflunomide (Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (DMARD)).

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

Pioglitazone

1 major · 0 moderate · 9 minor · 10 total

Leflunomide

0 major · 0 moderate · 20 minor · 20 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.