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. 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
Leflunomide slows down the process your liver uses to break down pioglitazone. This can result in higher levels of pioglitazone in your blood.
What To Do
Your doctor should monitor you for signs of increased exposure to pioglitazone.
FDA Label Information
In patients taking leflunomide, exposure of drugs metabolized by CYP2C8 (e.g., paclitaxel, pioglitazone, repaglinide, rosiglitazone) may be increased.
Pioglitazone Also Interacts With
- Clarithromycin major
- Rifampin minor
- Gemfibrozil minor
- Abiraterone minor
- Dapagliflozin minor
Leflunomide Also Interacts With
- Atorvastatin minor
- Rosuvastatin minor
- Simvastatin minor
- Furosemide minor
- Duloxetine minor
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Pioglitazone and Leflunomide together?
This is a minor interaction. Your doctor should monitor you for signs of increased exposure to pioglitazone.
How serious is the interaction between Pioglitazone and Leflunomide?
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 Pioglitazone and Leflunomide interact?
Leflunomide slows down the process your liver uses to break down pioglitazone. This can result in higher levels of pioglitazone in your blood.
Understanding the Pioglitazone and Leflunomide Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a minor-severity interaction. Pioglitazone belongs to the Thiazolidinedione class and Leflunomide belongs to the Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (DMARD) class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Leflunomide slows down the process your liver uses to break down pioglitazone. 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. Pioglitazone has 10 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Leflunomide has 20. 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 for signs of increased exposure to pioglitazone. 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 Pioglitazone or Leflunomide 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.