Apixaban: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Apixaban is a medicine sold in the U.S. under 3 brand and generic names. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Available as
- Tablet · Capsule
- Sold as
- 3 products — Apixaban, Eliquis and Eliquis Sprinkle
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Yes
- Half-life
- about 12 hours
Can you take apixaban with…?
Source-cited answers for the combinations people actually ask about — each with a verdict and what to watch for.
Every apixaban product we track (3)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
| # | Drug | Rating | Type | Form | Generic? | Pharmacy pays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 66/100 | Prescription | Tablet | No data | — | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Tablet | No data | — | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Capsule | No data | — | View → |
What apixaban pills look like
Imprint codes, colour and shape from the FDA’s labelling data. Match the imprint on your pill — or search any imprint.
Can you crush or split apixaban?
At least one apixabanproduct is labelled to be swallowed whole — crushing an extended-release tablet releases the whole day’s dose at once. Which applies depends on the form you were given.
What each apixaban label says about crushing, splitting and chewingHow long apixaban keeps
No apixaban 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.
Apixaban and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for apixaban: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadInformation from four mothers indicates that apixaban levels in milk are high, potentially resulting in infant anticoagulation and bleeding, which was confirmed with a pharmacokinetic model. An alternate drug is preferred, especially while nursing a newborn or preterm infant.
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 apixaban
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 67,478 reports naming apixaban, and the FDA flagged 96% 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:
- atrial fibrillation4,112 reports
- dyspnoea3,828 reports
- cerebrovascular accident3,606 reports
- thrombosis2,868 reports
- cardiac disorder2,516 reports
- fall2,477 reports
- fatigue2,423 reports
- anaemia2,107 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean apixaban 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.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved August 25, 2026.
How long apixaban stays in your system
The elimination half-life of apixaban is about 12 hours. Apixaban is not a prodrug, and the label states unchanged apixaban is the major plasma component with no active circulating metabolites — so nothing outlasts the parent drug. The ~12-hour figure applies to healthy adults with normal organ function; apixaban is cleared partly by the kidneys (about 27% renal excretion), so exposure rises with declining kidney function, in older adults, and with hepatic impairment, which can lengthen how long it stays in the system.
ELIQUIS (apixaban) tablet, film coated — FDA label (DailyMed) ↗Half-life is how long the body takes to clear half a dose. It is not the same as how long a drug test can detect it, and it varies with age, kidney and liver function.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
How long does apixaban stay in your system?
The elimination half-life of apixaban is about 12 hours — that is how long the body takes to clear half of a dose. Apixaban is not a prodrug, and the label states unchanged apixaban is the major plasma component with no active circulating metabolites — so nothing outlasts the parent drug. The ~12-hour figure applies to healthy adults with normal organ function; apixaban is cleared partly by the kidneys (about 27% renal excretion), so exposure rises with declining kidney function, in older adults, and with hepatic impairment, which can lengthen how long it stays in the system. Half-life is not the same as how long a drug test can detect the drug, and it varies with age, kidney and liver function.
Can you take apixaban 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 apixaban against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What brand names is apixaban sold under?
We track 3 apixaban-containing products in the U.S.: Apixaban, Eliquis and Eliquis Sprinkle. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does apixaban come in?
Across the brands we track, apixaban is currently marketed as tablet and 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 apixaban?
Yes. Our catalog lists 1 generic apixaban product alongside the brand versions. A generic has the same active ingredient and must meet the FDA's bioequivalence standard; it usually costs less. Ask your pharmacist which one your plan covers.
What should I avoid while taking apixaban?
Other medicines: we hold source-cited interaction answers for Can you take Eliquis and metoprolol together? and Can you take Zyrtec with Eliquis?. This is what the FDA label and our cited sources say — it is not a complete list. Your pharmacist can check your own combination.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Apixaban: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/apixaban
- MLA
- “Apixaban: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/apixaban.
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 apixaban on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.