Elotuzumab: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Elotuzumab is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for multiple myeloma. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats
- Multiple Myeloma
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Empliciti
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How elotuzumab is dosed
From the FDA label for Empliciti (application BLA761035). Other elotuzumab products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
With lenalidomide and dexamethasone: 10 mg/kg administered intravenously every week for the first two cycles and every 2 weeks thereafter until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. (2.1) • With pomalidomide and dexamethasone: 10 mg/kg administered intravenously every week for the first two cycles and 20 mg/kg every 4 weeks thereafter until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. (2.2) • Premedicate with dexamethasone, diphenhydramine, ranitidine and acetaminophen. (2.3) 2.1 Recommended Dosing when EMPLICITI Is Used in Combination with Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone The recommended dosage of EMPLICITI is 10 mg/kg administered intravenously every week for the first two cycles (28-day cycle) and every 2 weeks thereafter in conjunction with the recommended dosing of lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone as described below. Continue treatment until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Refer to the dexamethasone and lenalidomide prescribing information for additional information. Administer premedications before each dose of EMPLICITI [see Dosage and Administration (2.3) and Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] . Administer dexamethasone as follows: • On days that EMPLICITI is administered, give dexamethasone 28 mg orally between 3 and 24 hours before EMPLICITI plus 8 mg intravenously between 45 and 90 minutes before EMPLICITI. • On days that EMPLICITI is not…
Elotuzumab side effects
The following clinically significant adverse reactions are described in detail in other sections of the label: • Infusion reaction [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] . • Infections [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] . • Second Primary Malignancies [ see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] . • Hepatotoxicity [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4) ] . • Interference with determination of complete response [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5) ] . Most common adverse reactions (20% or higher) • with lenalidomide and dexamethasone are fatigue, diarrhea, pyrexia, constipation, cough, peripheral neuropathy, nasopharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection, decreased appetite, pneumonia. (6.1) • with pomalidomide and dexamethasone are constipation and hyperglycemia. (6.1) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Bristol-Myers Squibb at 1-800-721-5072 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. EMPLICITI in Combination with Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone [ELOQUENT-2] The safety data described in this section are based on the ELOQUENT-2 study, a randomized, open-label clinical trial…
Who shouldn’t take elotuzumab
None. None (4)
Elotuzumab drug interactions
For important drug interactions involving lenalidomide, pomalidomide and dexamethasone, refer to their respective prescribing information. 7.2 Laboratory Test Interference EMPLICITI may be detected in the SPEP and serum immunofixation assays of myeloma patients and could interfere with correct response classification. A small peak in the early gamma region on SPEP that is IgGƙ on serum immunofixation may potentially be attributed to EMPLICITI, particularly in patients whose endogenous myeloma protein is IgA, IgM, IgD, or lambda light chain restricted. This interference can impact the determination of complete response and possibly relapse from complete response in patients with IgG kappa myeloma protein [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5) ].
Every elotuzumab 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: Empliciti.
Elotuzumab and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for elotuzumab: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadNo information is available on the clinical use of elotuzumab during breastfeeding. Because elotuzumab is a large protein molecule with a molecular weight of 148,100 Da the amount in milk is likely to be very low. It is also likely to be partially destroyed in the infant's gastrointestinal tract and absorption by the infant is probably minimal. However, elotuzumab is administered with dexamethasone and lenalidomide, two drugs that have no information on use in nursing mothers. The manufacturer recommends that women receiving elotuzumab should not breastfeed.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised November 15, 2023. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about elotuzumab
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 2,902 reports naming elotuzumab, 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:
- plasma cell myeloma392 reports
- pneumonia217 reports
- pyrexia164 reports
- malignant neoplasm progression160 reports
- anaemia142 reports
- neutropenia142 reports
- thrombocytopenia130 reports
- diarrhoea97 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean elotuzumab 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 elotuzumab?
Empliciti (Elotuzumab) is a medication used to treat Multiple Myeloma.
Can you take elotuzumab 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 elotuzumab 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 elotuzumab come in?
Across the brands we track, elotuzumab 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 elotuzumab?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled elotuzumab 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). Elotuzumab: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/elotuzumab
- MLA
- “Elotuzumab: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/elotuzumab.
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 elotuzumab on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.