Quetiapine and Clarithromycin Interaction
Drug interaction information between Quetiapine and Clarithromycin.
Quetiapine and Clarithromycin have a documented major interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a major-severity interaction between Quetiapine and Clarithromycin. 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
Clarithromycin stops your body from breaking down quetiapine, which can cause the drug to build up to toxic levels.
What To Do
Your doctor may need to lower your quetiapine dose while you are taking this antibiotic.
FDA Label Information
Colchicine (in patients with normal renal and hepatic function) Use With Caution Antipsychotics: Pimozide Contraindicated Pimozide: [See Contraindications ( 4.2 )] Quetiapine Lurasidone Quetiapine: Quetiapine is a substrate for CYP3A4, which is inhibited by clarithromycin. Co‑administration with clarithromycin could result in increased quetiapine exposure and possible quetiapine related toxicities. Refer to quetiapine prescribing information for recommendations on dose reduction if co‑administered with CYP3A4 inhibitors such as clarithromycin.
Quetiapine Also Interacts With
- Darunavir moderate
- Ketoconazole minor
- Carbamazepine minor
- Rifampin minor
- Itraconazole minor
Clarithromycin Also Interacts With
- Pioglitazone major
- Fluconazole major
- Cyclosporine major
- Lurasidone major
- Pimozide major
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Quetiapine and Clarithromycin together?
This is a major interaction. Your doctor may need to lower your quetiapine dose while you are taking this antibiotic.
How serious is the interaction between Quetiapine and Clarithromycin?
This interaction is classified as "major" severity by the FDA. Major interactions may be life-threatening or cause serious side effects.
Why do Quetiapine and Clarithromycin interact?
Clarithromycin stops your body from breaking down quetiapine, which can cause the drug to build up to toxic levels.
Understanding the Quetiapine and Clarithromycin Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a major-severity interaction. Quetiapine belongs to the Atypical Antipsychotic class and Clarithromycin belongs to the Macrolide Antibiotic class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Clarithromycin stops your body from breaking down quetiapine, which can cause the drug to build up to toxic levels. 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. Quetiapine has 9 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Clarithromycin has 81. 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 lower your quetiapine dose while you are taking this antibiotic. 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 Quetiapine or Clarithromycin 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.