Albumin Human: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Albumin Human is a human serum albumin 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
- Drug class
- Human Serum Albumin
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Optison
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- Boxed warning
- Boxed warning
How albumin human is dosed
From the FDA label for Optison (application NDA020899). Other albumin human products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Adults 0.5 mL intravenously at a rate not exceeding 1 mL/s. If contrast enhancement is inadequate after the dose of 0.5 mL, additional doses of 0.5 mL may be repeated up to a total of 5 mL in a 10-minute period with a maximum total dose of 8.7 mL in any one patient study ( 2.1 ). Pediatric Patients 28 kg or less: 0.2 mL diluted with 0.2 mL of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection. 29 kg to 40 kg: 0.3 mL diluted with 0.3 mL of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection. 41 kg or more: 0.4 mL diluted with 0.4 mL of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection. Administer intravenously at a rate not exceeding 0.05 mL/s. If contrast enhancement is inadequate after the initial dose, up to four additional doses of the same diluted volume may be repeated for further contrast enhancement as needed ( 2.1 ). Follow the OPTISON injection with a flush of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection or 5% Dextrose Injection ( 2.3 ). See full prescribing information for preparation instructions ( 2.2 ). 2.1 Recommended Dosage Adults The recommended dose in adults is 0.5 mL administered intravenously at a rate not exceeding 1 mL/s [see Dosage and Administration (2.3) ] . If the contrast enhancement is inadequate after the dose of 0.5 mL, additional doses of 0.5 mL may be repeated for further contrast enhancement as needed. The maximum total dose is 5 mL in any 10-minute period. The maximum total dose is 8.7 mL in any one patient study.…
Albumin Human side effects
The following serious adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling: Serious Cardiopulmonary Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] Hypersensitivity Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] Common adverse reactions (incidence ≥ 0.5%) were: headache, nausea and/or vomiting, warm sensation or flushing, dizziness, dysgeusia, chills or fever, flu-like symptoms, malaise/weakness/fatigue, chest pain, dyspnea, injection site discomfort, and erythema ( 6.1 ). To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact GE HealthCare at 1-800-654-0118 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. Adverse Reactions in Adults The safety of OPTISON was evaluated in 279 adult patients in clinical studies. These patients were 69% male, 31% female, 71% White, 19% Black or African American, 9% Hispanic or Latino, and 1% other racial or ethnic groups. Adverse reactions reported in ≥ 0.5% of patients who received OPTISON by intravenous injection are given in Table 2. Table 2. Adverse Reactions Reported in ≥ 0.5% of the Adult Patients who Received OPTISON in Controlled Clinical Studies…
Who shouldn’t take albumin human
OPTISON is contraindicated in patients with known or suspected hypersensitivity to perflutren or albumin [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] . Known or suspected hypersensitivity to perflutren or albumin ( 4 )
Every albumin human 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: Optison.
What people report to the FDA about albumin human
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 4,966 reports naming albumin human, and the FDA flagged 95% 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:
- renal failure398 reports
- pyrexia332 reports
- dyspnoea287 reports
- pneumonia281 reports
- injury272 reports
- anxiety265 reports
- hypotension260 reports
- renal impairment258 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean albumin human 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
What is albumin human?
Optison (Albumin Human) is a human serum albumin.
What kind of drug is albumin human?
The FDA classifies albumin human as a human serum albumin. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take albumin human 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 albumin human 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 albumin human come in?
Across the brands we track, albumin human is currently marketed as injectable, 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 albumin human?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled albumin human 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). Albumin Human: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/albumin-human
- MLA
- “Albumin Human: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/albumin-human.
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 albumin human on DailyMed (NIH) ↗ — including its boxed warning in full.