Etelcalcetide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Etelcalcetide is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for secondary hyperparathyroidism. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats
- Secondary Hyperparathyroidism
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Parsabiv
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How etelcalcetide is dosed
From the FDA label for Parsabiv (application NDA208325). Other etelcalcetide products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Ensure corrected serum calcium is at or above the lower limit of normal prior to initiation, dose increase, or re-initiation. ( 2.1 ) The recommended starting dose is 5 mg administered by intravenous bolus injection three times per week at the end of hemodialysis treatment. ( 2.1 ) The maintenance dose is individualized and determined by titration based on parathyroid hormone (PTH) and corrected serum calcium response. The dose range is 2.5 to 15 mg three times per week. ( 2.1 ) The dose may be increased in 2.5 mg or 5 mg increments no more frequently than every 4 weeks. ( 2.2 ) Measure serum calcium within 1 week after initiation or dose adjustment and every 4 weeks for maintenance. ( 2.2 ) Measure PTH after 4 weeks from initiation or dose adjustment. ( 2.2 ) Decrease or temporarily discontinue PARSABIV in individuals with PTH levels below the target range. ( 2.2 ) Consider decreasing or temporarily discontinuing PARSABIV or use concomitant therapies to increase corrected serum calcium in patients with a corrected serum calcium below the lower limit of normal but at or above 7.5 mg/dL without symptoms of hypocalcemia. ( 2.2 ) Stop PARSABIV and treat hypocalcemia if the corrected serum calcium falls below 7.5 mg/dL or patients report symptoms of hypocalcemia. ( 2.2 ) Do not mix or dilute prior to administration. ( 2.3 ) Administer by intravenous bolus injection into the venous…
Etelcalcetide side effects
The following adverse reactions are discussed in greater detail in other sections of the labeling: Hypocalcemia [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] Worsening Heart Failure [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] Adynamic Bone [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4) ] The most common adverse reactions (≥ 5%) were blood calcium decreased, muscle spasms, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, hypocalcemia, and paresthesia. ( 6 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Amgen Inc. at 1-800-77-AMGEN (1-800-772-6436) 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 with rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in clinical practice. The data in Table 2 are derived from two placebo-controlled clinical studies in patients with chronic kidney disease and secondary hyperparathyroidism on hemodialysis. The data reflect exposure of 503 patients to PARSABIV with a mean duration of exposure to PARSABIV of 23.6 weeks. The mean age of patients was approximately 58 years, and 60% of the patients were male. Of the total patients, 67% were Caucasian, 28% were Black or African American, 2.6%…
Who shouldn’t take etelcalcetide
PARSABIV is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to etelcalcetide or any of its excipients. ( 4 ) Hypersensitivity PARSABIV is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to etelcalcetide or any of its excipients. Hypersensitivity reactions, including face edema and anaphylactic reaction, have occurred with PARSABIV [see Adverse Reactions (6) ] .
Every etelcalcetide 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: Parsabiv.
What people report to the FDA about etelcalcetide
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 612 reports naming etelcalcetide, and the FDA flagged 98% 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:
- shunt stenosis170 reports
- shunt occlusion101 reports
- fall50 reports
- peripheral arterial occlusive disease49 reports
- hypocalcaemia37 reports
- pneumonia31 reports
- cardiac failure30 reports
- angina unstable29 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean etelcalcetide 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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is etelcalcetide?
Parsabiv (Etelcalcetide) is a medication used to treat Secondary Hyperparathyroidism.
Can you take etelcalcetide 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 etelcalcetide 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 etelcalcetide come in?
Across the brands we track, etelcalcetide 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 etelcalcetide?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled etelcalcetide 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). Etelcalcetide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/etelcalcetide
- MLA
- “Etelcalcetide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/etelcalcetide.
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 etelcalcetide on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.