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Brincidofovir: uses, dosing, side effects & brands

Brincidofovir is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for smallpox. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.

By the pharmaranks editorial teamReviewed against the FDA (openFDA label, NDC Directory & Enforcement) sourcesUpdated Jul 24, 2026How we research

Key facts

Treats (across its forms)
Smallpox
Available as
Suspension · Tablet
Sold as
Tembexa
Prescription?
Prescription only
Generic available?
Not in our catalog
Boxed warning
Boxed warning

How brincidofovir is dosed

From the FDA label for Tembexa (application NDA214460). Other brincidofovir products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.

Testing: Before initiation and during treatment with TEMBEXA perform hepatic laboratory testing and pregnancy testing. ( 2.1 ) • See full prescribing information for details on important administration instructions. ( 2.2 ) • Adult and pediatric patients weighing 48 kg or above: 200 mg (two 100 mg tablets or 20 mL oral suspension for patients who cannot swallow tablets) once weekly for 2 doses. ( 2.3 ) • Adult and pediatric patients weighing 10 kg to less than 48 kg: 4 mg/kg oral suspension once weekly for 2 doses. ( 2.3 ) • Pediatric patients weighing less than 10 kg: 6 mg/kg oral suspension once weekly for 2 doses. ( 2.3 ) 2.1 Testing Before Initiating and During Treatment with TEMBEXA Perform hepatic laboratory testing in all patients before starting TEMBEXA and while receiving TEMBEXA, as clinically appropriate [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 ) and Use in Specific Populations ( 8.7 )] . Perform pregnancy testing before initiation of TEMBEXA in individuals of childbearing potential to inform risk [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.5 ) and Use in Specific Populations ( 8.3 )] . 2.2 Important Administration Instructions Avoid direct contact with broken or crushed tablets or oral suspension. If contact with skin or mucous membranes occurs, wash thoroughly with soap and water, and rinse eyes thoroughly with water [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.6 )] . TEMBEXA Tablets…

Brincidofovir side effects

The following clinically significant adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling: • Elevations in hepatic transaminases and bilirubin [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 )] • Diarrhea and other GI adverse events [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 )] Common adverse reactions (occurring in at least 2% of TEMBEXA-treated subjects) were diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Emergent BioDefense Operations Lansing LLC at 1-877-246-8472 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. The safety of TEMBEXA has not been studied in patients with smallpox disease. The safety of TEMBEXA was evaluated in 392 adult subjects aged 18 to 77 years in Phase 2 and 3 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials. Of the subjects who received a 200 mg total weekly dose of TEMBEXA, 54% were male, 85% were White, 7% were Black/African American, 6% were Asian, and 10% were Hispanic or Latino. Twenty-one percent of subjects in the studies were age 65 or older. Of these 392 subjects, 85% received a 200 mg total weekly dose of…

Who shouldn’t take brincidofovir

None. None. ( 4 )

Brincidofovir drug interactions

Concomitant use with OATP1B1 and 1B3 inhibitors increase TEMBEXA exposure which may increase TEMBEXA-associated adverse reactions. Consider alternative medication that are not OATP1B1 or 1B3 inhibitors. If concomitant use is necessary, increase monitoring for adverse reactions associated with TEMBEXA and postpone the dosing of OATP1B1 or 1B3 inhibitors at least 3 hours after TEMBEXA administration. ( 7.1 ) 7.1 Effect of Other Drugs on TEMBEXA Inhibitors for Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide (OATP) 1B1 and 1B3 Concomitant use of TEMBEXA with OATP1B1 and 1B3 inhibitors (clarithromycin, cyclosporine, erythromycin, gemfibrozil, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] and hepatitis C virus [HCV] protease inhibitors, rifampin [single dose]) increase brincidofovir AUC and C max which may increase TEMBEXA-associated adverse reactions [see Clinical Pharmacology ( 12.3 )] . Where possible, consider alternative medications that are not OATP1B1 or 1B3 inhibitors. If concomitant use with TEMBEXA is necessary, increase monitoring for adverse reactions associated with TEMBEXA (elevations in transaminases and bilirubin, diarrhea, or other GI adverse events) [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 , 5.3 )] and postpone the dosing of OATP1B1 or 1B3 inhibitors for at least 3 hours after TEMBEXA administration. 7.2 Vaccine Interactions No vaccine-drug interaction studies have been performed in human subjects. Animal studies have indicated that coadministration of TEMBEXA at the same time as live smallpox vaccine (vaccinia virus) may reduce the immune response to the vaccine. It is also possible that TEMBEXA may reduce the immune response to replication-defective smallpox vaccine (modified vaccinia virus Ankara). The clinical impacts of these potential interactions on vaccine efficacy are unknown.

Every brincidofovir 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: Tembexa.

What brincidofovir pills look like

Imprint codes, colour and shape from the FDA’s labelling data. Match the imprint on your pill — or search any imprint.

Brincidofovir pill imprints
ImprintStrengthColourShape
BCV;100100 mgblueoval
BCV;100100 mgblueoval

Can you crush or split brincidofovir?

At least one brincidofovirproduct 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 brincidofovir label says about crushing, splitting and chewing

What people report to the FDA about brincidofovir

The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 135 reports naming brincidofovir, and the FDA flagged 82% 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:

  • acute kidney injury27 reports
  • adenovirus infection14 reports
  • drug resistance12 reports
  • graft versus host disease in gastrointestinal tract11 reports
  • hypotension11 reports
  • immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome11 reports
  • multiple organ dysfunction syndrome11 reports
  • cytomegalovirus infection9 reports

Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean brincidofovir 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 brincidofovir?

TEMBEXA (brincidofovir) tablets, 100 mg, for oral use are immediate release film-coated tablets containing the following inactive ingredients: Colloidal Silicon Dioxide, Crospovidone, FD&C Blue #1/Brilliant Blue FCF Aluminum Lake, FD&C Blue #2/Indigo Carmine Aluminum Lake, Magnesium Stearate, Mannitol, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Polyethylene Glycol, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Purified Water, Silicified Microcrystalline Cellulose, Talc and Titanium Dioxide. TEMBEXA (brincidofovir) oral suspension, 10 mg/mL, is an aqueous based, preserved, orally dosed suspension. The inactive ingredients are: Citric Acid Anhydrous, Lemon Lime Flavor, Microcrystalline Cellulose and Carboxymethyl Cellulose Sodium, Purified Water, Simethicone 30% Emulsion, Sodium Benzoate, Sucralose, Trisodium Citrate Anhydrous, and Xanthan Gum. Brincidofovir is an orthopoxvirus nucleotide analog DNA polymerase inhibitor and a lipid conjugate of the nucleotide analog cidofovir and is indicated for the treatment of human smallpox disease.

Can you take brincidofovir 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 brincidofovir 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 brincidofovir come in?

Across the brands we track, brincidofovir is currently marketed as suspension and tablet, 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 brincidofovir?

We do not currently list a generic-labelled brincidofovir 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). Brincidofovir: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/brincidofovir
MLA
“Brincidofovir: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/brincidofovir.

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 brincidofovir on DailyMed (NIH) ↗ — including its boxed warning in full.