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Drug Interactions With Alefacept
Echinacea, FluMist, yellow fever vaccine, and other drugs can interact with alefacept, a prescription psoriasis medication. These interactions can affect the immune system in different ways -- in some cases, making the immune system too strong, and in others, weakening it too much. To reduce your risk, tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you are taking before starting treatment with alefacept.
Alefacept (Amevive®) can potentially interact with a few other medications. Some of the drugs that may lead to interactions with alefacept include:
- Echinacea
- "Live" vaccinations, including:
- Chickenpox vaccine (varicella vaccine)
- FluMist® (the nasal vaccine for influenza; the injected vaccine is not live)
- MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine)
- Polio vaccine
- Rotavirus vaccine
- Smallpox vaccine
- Yellow fever vaccine
- BCG vaccine (used in some countries for tuberculosis)
- Other immune-suppressing medications.
The following sections explain in detail the potentially negative interactions that can occur when alefacept is combined with any of the drugs listed above.
Echinacea
Echinacea may decrease the effectiveness of alefacept by stimulating the immune system. Do not take these products together without your healthcare provider's approval.
Live Vaccines
Live vaccines are immunizations that contain live viruses or bacteria. If you receive a live vaccine while taking alefacept, you might become infected with the virus or bacteria from the vaccine. Also, alefacept can make live vaccines less effective. You should probably not receive live vaccinations while taking this medication.
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD