Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone Interaction
Drug interaction information between Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone.
Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone have a documented moderate interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a moderate-severity interaction between Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone. 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
Both drugs can cause a dangerous change in the heart's rhythm and increase the risk of serious movement problems.
What To Do
You should avoid taking these drugs together to prevent heart rhythm issues and severe muscle side effects.
FDA Label Information
7.5 Drugs That Cause QTc Prolongation Tetrabenazine causes a small prolongation of QTc (about 8 msec), concomitant use with other drugs that are known to cause QTc prolongation should be avoided, these including antipsychotic medications (e.g., chlorpromazine, haloperidol, thioridazine, ziprasidone), antibiotics (e.g., moxifloxacin), Class 1A (e.g., quinidine, procainamide) and Class III (e.g., amiodarone, sotalol) antiarrhythmic medications or any other medications known to prolong the QTc interval. 7.6 Neuroleptic Drugs The risk for Parkinsonism, NMS, and akathisia may be increased by...
Tetrabenazine Also Interacts With
- Deutetrabenazine major
- Valbenazine major
- Olanzapine moderate
- Risperidone moderate
- Haloperidol moderate
Ziprasidone Also Interacts With
- Buspirone moderate
- Lithium moderate
- Estradiol minor
- Propranolol minor
- Lorazepam minor
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone together?
This is a moderate interaction. You should avoid taking these drugs together to prevent heart rhythm issues and severe muscle side effects.
How serious is the interaction between Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone?
This interaction is classified as "moderate" severity by the FDA. Moderate interactions may worsen your condition or change how your medications work.
Why do Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone interact?
Both drugs can cause a dangerous change in the heart's rhythm and increase the risk of serious movement problems.
Understanding the Tetrabenazine and Ziprasidone Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a moderate-severity interaction. Tetrabenazine belongs to the VMAT2 Inhibitor class and Ziprasidone belongs to the Atypical Antipsychotic class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Both drugs can cause a dangerous change in the heart's rhythm and increase the risk of serious movement problems. 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. Tetrabenazine has 16 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Ziprasidone has 18. 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: You should avoid taking these drugs together to prevent heart rhythm issues and severe muscle side effects. 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 Tetrabenazine or Ziprasidone 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.