Theophylline and Febuxostat Interaction

Drug interaction information between Theophylline and Febuxostat.

Theophylline and Febuxostat have a documented moderate interaction in FDA labeling.

FDA drug labeling documents a moderate-severity interaction between Theophylline and Febuxostat. 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

Theophylline

Methylxanthine Bronchodilator

Drug B

Febuxostat

Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitor

How They Interact

Febuxostat interferes with how the body breaks down theophylline, which can change the amount of medicine in your body.

FDA Label Information

Based on a drug interaction study in healthy patients, febuxostat altered the metabolism of theophylline (a substrate of XO) in humans [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3) ]. Therefore, use with caution when coadministering febuxostat with theophylline.

Frequently Asked Questions

What SPL severity band is on file for Theophylline + Febuxostat?

Compiled FDA labeling labels this pair moderate. That is a source-record field, not an individual medication-combination decision.

Which drug in this pair has the larger labeled-interaction portfolio?

Theophylline has 86 labeled pairs on file vs Febuxostat's 9. In the moderate band specifically: Theophylline has 5 (also Bupropion, Clarithromycin, Levofloxacin, Rifampin); Febuxostat has 1.

What mechanism field is on file for Theophylline and Febuxostat?

Febuxostat interferes with how the body breaks down theophylline, which can change the amount of medicine in your body.

Theophylline carries more major-labeled pairs than Febuxostat

SPL source-record counts only. This page's band is moderate · classes on file: Theophylline (Methylxanthine Bronchodilator); Febuxostat (Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitor).

Theophylline has 27 major-labeled pairs vs Febuxostat's 2. This page itself is in the moderate band, not the major band.

Theophylline

27 major · 5 moderate · 54 minor · 86 total

Febuxostat

2 major · 1 moderate · 6 minor · 9 total

Febuxostat has no other moderate-band peer in this dataset besides Theophylline.

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.