Lifitegrast: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Lifitegrast is a lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 antagonist sold in the U.S. under one brand, for dry eye syndromes. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 Antagonist
- Treats
- Dry Eye Syndromes
- Available as
- Drops
- Sold as
- Xiidra
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How lifitegrast is dosed
From the FDA label for Xiidra (application NDA208073). Other lifitegrast products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Instill one drop of Xiidra twice daily (approximately 12 hours apart) into each eye using a single-use container. Discard the single‑use container immediately after using in each eye. Contact lenses should be removed prior to the administration of Xiidra and may be reinserted 15 minutes following administration. One drop twice daily in each eye (approximately 12 hours apart). ( 2 )
Lifitegrast side effects
The following serious adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling: Hypersensitivity [see Contraindications (4) ] The most common adverse reactions (incidence 5%-25%) following the use of Xiidra were instillation-site irritation, dysgeusia, and decreased visual acuity ( 6 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Bausch & Lomb Incorporated at 1-800-553-5340 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 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. In five clinical trials of DED conducted with lifitegrast ophthalmic solution, 1401 patients received at least one dose of lifitegrast (1287 of which received lifitegrast 5%). The majority of patients (84%) had less than or equal to 3 months of treatment exposure. One hundred-seventy patients were exposed to lifitegrast for approximately 12 months. The majority of the treated patients were female (77%). The most common adverse reactions reported in 5%-25% of patients were instillation-site irritation, dysgeusia, and reduced visual acuity. Other adverse reactions reported in 1%-5% of the patients were blurred vision, conjunctival hyperemia, eye irritation, headache,…
Who shouldn’t take lifitegrast
Xiidra is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to lifitegrast or to any of the other ingredients in the formulation [see Adverse Reactions (6.2) ]. Hypersensitivity. ( 4 )
Every lifitegrast 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: Xiidra.
How long lifitegrast keeps
No lifitegrast label we read sets a separate limit for after opening, but they do specify how it must be stored — and the stability behind any date assumes those conditions.
Does lifitegrast expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsWhat people report to the FDA about lifitegrast
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 206 reports naming lifitegrast, and the FDA flagged 68% 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:
- pneumonia36 reports
- arthritis30 reports
- platelet count decreased30 reports
- blood folate decreased28 reports
- fatigue23 reports
- white blood cell count decreased23 reports
- hypoglycaemia19 reports
- eye irritation17 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean lifitegrast 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 lifitegrast?
Xiidra (Lifitegrast) is a lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 antagonist used to treat Dry Eye Syndromes.
What kind of drug is lifitegrast?
The FDA classifies lifitegrast as a lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 antagonist. 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 lifitegrast 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 lifitegrast 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 lifitegrast come in?
Across the brands we track, lifitegrast is currently marketed as drops, 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 lifitegrast?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled lifitegrast 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). Lifitegrast: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/lifitegrast
- MLA
- “Lifitegrast: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/lifitegrast.
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 lifitegrast on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.