Acitretin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Acitretin is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Available as
- Capsule
- Sold as
- Soriatane
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $106 for a 30-count supply — not your price
Every acitretin product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Soriatane.
What acitretin pills look like
Imprint codes, colour and shape from the FDA’s labelling data. Match the imprint on your pill — or search any imprint.
| Imprint | Strength | Colour | Shape | Maker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEVA;1135 | 10 mg | green, white | capsule | — |
| TEVA;1136 | 25 mg | green, yellow | capsule | — |
| IX;667 | 10 mg | white, brown | capsule | — |
| IX;668 | 17.5 mg | yellow | capsule | — |
| IX;698 | 22.5 mg | brown | capsule | — |
| IX;669 | 25 mg | yellow, brown | capsule | — |
| A;232 | 10 mg | brown, white | capsule | — |
| A;233 | 17.5 mg | yellow, yellow | capsule | — |
| A;235 | 25 mg | brown, yellow | capsule | — |
| A;232 | 10 mg | brown, white | capsule | — |
| A;233 | 17.5 mg | yellow, yellow | capsule | — |
| A;235 | 25 mg | brown, yellow | capsule | — |
How long acitretin keeps
No acitretin label we read sets a separate limit for after opening, but they do specify how it must be stored — and the stability behind any date assumes those conditions.
Does acitretin expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsAcitretin and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for acitretin: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadA maternal acitretin dose of 0.65 mg/kg daily produced low levels in milk in one woman. Because there is no published experience with the safe use of acitretin during breastfeeding, current expert opinion recommends avoiding acitretin during breastfeeding. Various topical agents that are less likely to be absorbed by the mother may be preferred during breastfeeding, especially while nursing a newborn or preterm infant. Only water-miscible cream or gel products should be applied to the breast because ointments may expose the infant to high levels of mineral paraffins via licking.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised May 15, 2026. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about acitretin
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 4,999 reports naming acitretin, and the FDA flagged 86% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- psoriasis1,187 reports
- fatigue475 reports
- pruritus449 reports
- nausea435 reports
- headache373 reports
- skin exfoliation366 reports
- pneumonia349 reports
- pyrexia338 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean acitretin caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
Can you take acitretin with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run acitretin against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does acitretin come in?
Across the brands we track, acitretin is currently marketed as capsule, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic acitretin?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled acitretin product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Acitretin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/acitretin
- MLA
- “Acitretin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/acitretin.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for acitretin on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.