Efavirenz: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Efavirenz is a medicine sold in the U.S. under 2 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
- Capsule · Tablet
- Sold as
- 2 products — Sustiva and Efavirenz
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Yes
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $42 for a 30-count supply — not your price
Every efavirenz product we track (2)
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 | 72/100 | Prescription | Capsule | Generic | $42 | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Capsule | Generic | $42 | View → |
What efavirenz 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL301 | 600 mg | yellow | capsule | — |
Combination products containing efavirenz
A combination is a different drug — different dosing, different warnings. It is listed here so you can find it, not so you can substitute it.
Can you crush or split efavirenz?
At least one efavirenzproduct 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 efavirenz label says about crushing, splitting and chewingEfavirenz and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for efavirenz: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadEfavirenz is excreted into breastmilk and small amounts are found in the serum of some infants. Treatment of mothers of HIV-positive mothers with efavirenz does not appear to affect growth and development of their HIV-negative breastfed infants. Achieving and maintaining viral suppression with antiretroviral therapy decreases breastfeeding transmission risk to less than 1%, but not zero. Individuals with HIV who are on antiretroviral therapy with a sustained undetectable viral load and who choose to breastfeed should be supported in this decision. If a viral load is not suppressed, banked pasteurized donor milk or formula is recommended.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised July 15, 2025. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about efavirenz
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 13,807 reports naming efavirenz, and the FDA flagged 97% 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:
- foetal exposure during pregnancy1,120 reports
- virologic failure1,072 reports
- drug resistance804 reports
- viral mutation identified687 reports
- pathogen resistance669 reports
- maternal exposure during pregnancy599 reports
- depression503 reports
- anaemia500 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean efavirenz 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.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
Can you take efavirenz 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 efavirenz 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 efavirenz sold under?
We track 2 efavirenz-containing products in the U.S.: Sustiva and Efavirenz. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does efavirenz come in?
Across the brands we track, efavirenz is currently marketed as capsule 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 efavirenz?
Yes. Our catalog lists 1 generic efavirenz 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.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Efavirenz: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/efavirenz
- MLA
- “Efavirenz: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/efavirenz.
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 efavirenz on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.