Zafirlukast

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Also indexed as:

Accolate

Zafirlukast is used in the prevention and treatment of mild to severe asthma, seasonal allergic asthma, exercise-induced asthma, and aspirin-induced asthma. It belongs to a class of drugs called leukotriene-receptor antagonists (LTRA).

Herbs

Summary of Interactions

Depletion or interference	None known
Adverse interaction	Willow*
Side effect reduction/prevention	None known
Supportive interaction	None known
Reduced drug absorption/bioavailability	Food

An asterisk (*) next to an item in the summary indicates that the interaction is supported only by weak, fragmentary, and/or contradictory scientific evidence.

Interactions with Herbs

Willow(Salix alba)

Willow bark contains salicin, a substance similar to aspirin. Research has shown that aspirin significantly increases blood levels of zafirlukast,¹ which would increase the likelihood of side effects from zafirlukast. The same thing could theoretically happen if people took willow bark along with zafirlukast, although no studies have investigated this specific interaction. People may want to avoid combining willow bark with zafirlukast due to the possibility of increased side effects.

Other Interactions

Food

The ingestion of food along with zafirlukast can reduce the overall absorption of the drug by about 40%.² Therefore, zafirlukast should be taken one hour before or two hours after a meal.

References

1. Kelloway JS. Zafirlukast: the first leukotriene-receptor antagonist approved for the treatment of asthma. Ann Pharmacother 1997;31(9):1012-21.
2. Kelloway JS. Zafirlukast: the first leukotriene-receptor antagonist approved for the treatment of asthma. Ann Pharmacother 1997;31(9):1012-21.

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Last Review: 09-01-2007

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