Leuprolide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Leuprolide is a gonadotropin releasing hormone receptor agonist sold in the U.S. under 7 brand and generic names, for breast neoplasms, endometriosis and infertility. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Receptor Agonist
- Treats (across its forms)
- Breast Neoplasms, Endometriosis and Infertility
- Available as
- Emulsion · Injectable · Kit · Solution · Implant
- Sold as
- 7 products — Camcevi Etm, Camcevi Kit and Eligard Kit, and others
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $6171 for a 30-count supply — not your price
How Lupron Depot is dosed
From the FDA label for Lupron Depot (application NDA019732). Other leuprolide products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
LUPRON DEPOT must be administered by a healthcare provider. In patients treated with GnRH analogues for prostate cancer, treatment is usually continued upon development of non-metastatic and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Table 1. LUPRON DEPOT Recommended Dosing Dosage 7.5 mg for 1-Month Administration 22.5 mg for 3-Month Administration 30 mg for 4-Month Administration 45 mg for 6-Month Administration Recommended dose 1 injection every 4 weeks 1 injection every 12 weeks 1 injection every 16 weeks 1 injection every 24 weeks LUPRON DEPOT must be administered under the supervision of a physician. Due to different release characteristics, the dosage strengths are not additive and must be selected based upon the desired dosing schedule. ( 2 ) LUPRON DEPOT 7.5 mg for 1-month administration, given as a single intramuscular injection every 4 weeks. ( 2.1 ) LUPRON DEPOT 22.5 mg for 3-month administration, given as a single intramuscular injection every 12 weeks. ( 2.2 ) LUPRON DEPOT 30 mg for 4-month administration, given as a single intramuscular injection every 16 weeks. ( 2.3 ) LUPRON DEPOT 45 mg for 6-month administration, given as a single intramuscular injection every 24 weeks. ( 2.4 ) Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 figure 4 figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 2.1 LUPRON DEPOT 7.5 mg for 1-Month Administration The recommended dose of LUPRON DEPOT 7.5 mg for 1-month…
Everything below is the FDA label for Lupron Depot (kit). Leuprolide is also sold as emulsion, injectable, solution and implant, and those are different medicines to take — follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Lupron Depot side effects
The following is discussed in more detail in other sections of the labeling: Tumor Flare [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.1 )] Metabolic Syndrome [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 )] Cardiovascular Disease [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 )] Effect on QT/QTc Interval [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.4 )] Convulsions [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.5 )] Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.6 )] 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. LUPRON DEPOT 7.5 mg for 1-month administration: The most common adverse reactions (>10%) were general pain, hot flashes/sweats, GI disorders, edema, respiratory disorder, urinary disorder. ( 6.1 ) LUPRON DEPOT 22.5 mg for 3-month administration: The most common adverse reactions (>10%) were general pain, injection site reaction, hot flashes/sweats, GI disorders, joint disorders, testicular atrophy, urinary disorders. ( 6.2 ) LUPRON DEPOT 30 mg for 4-month administration: The most common adverse reactions (>10%) were asthenia, flu syndrome, general pain, headache, injection site reaction, hot flashes/sweats, GI disorders, edema, skin reaction, urinary disorders. ( 6.3 ) LUPRON DEPOT 45 mg…
Who shouldn’t take Lupron Depot
LUPRON DEPOT is contraindicated in: Hypersensitivity LUPRON DEPOT is contraindicated in individuals with known hypersensitivity to GnRH agonists or any of the excipients in LUPRON DEPOT. Reports of anaphylactic reactions to GnRH agonists have been reported in the medical literature. Hypersensitivity to GnRH, GnRH agonist or any of the excipients in LUPRON DEPOT. ( 4 )
Lupron Depot drug interactions
7.1 Drug/Laboratory Test Interactions Administration of LUPRON DEPOT in therapeutic doses results in suppression of the pituitary-gonadal system. Normal function is usually restored within three months after treatment is discontinued. Due to the suppression of the pituitary-gonadal system by LUPRON DEPOT, diagnostic tests of pituitary gonadotropic and gonadal functions conducted during treatment and up to three months after discontinuation of LUPRON DEPOT may be affected.
Every leuprolide product we track (7)
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 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Emulsion | Generic | $6171 | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Injectable | Generic | $6171 | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Injectable | Generic | $6171 | View → | |
| 4 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Solution | Generic | $6171 | View → | |
| 5 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Kit | Generic | $6171 | View → | |
| 6 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Kit | Generic | $6171 | View → | |
| 7 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Implant | Generic | $6171 | View → |
Combination products containing leuprolide
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.
How long leuprolide keeps
The date on a sealed pack is not the only one: some leuprolide labels start a second clock once the product is opened or mixed, as short as 2 hours.
Does leuprolide expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsWhat people report to the FDA about leuprolide
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 6,667 reports naming leuprolide, and the FDA flagged 86% 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:
- fatigue349 reports
- hot flush274 reports
- fall252 reports
- asthenia239 reports
- pneumonia238 reports
- prostate cancer232 reports
- anaemia219 reports
- nausea201 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean leuprolide 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 Lupron Depot?
Leuprolide acetate is a synthetic nonapeptide analog of naturally occurring gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). The analog possesses greater potency than the natural hormone.
What kind of drug is leuprolide?
The FDA classifies leuprolide as a gonadotropin releasing hormone receptor agonist. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take leuprolide 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 leuprolide 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 leuprolide sold under?
We track 7 leuprolide-containing products in the U.S.: Camcevi Etm, Camcevi Kit, Eligard Kit, Lupron, Lupron Depot, Lupron Depot-Ped Kit and Viadur. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does leuprolide come in?
Across the brands we track, leuprolide is currently marketed as emulsion, injectable, kit, solution and implant, 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 leuprolide?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled leuprolide 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). Leuprolide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/leuprolide
- MLA
- “Leuprolide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/leuprolide.
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 leuprolide on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.