Lurbinectedin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Lurbinectedin is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for small cell lung carcinoma. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats
- Small Cell Lung Carcinoma
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Zepzelca
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How lurbinectedin is dosed
From the FDA label for Zepzelca (application NDA213702). Other lurbinectedin products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Recommended Dosage : 3.2 mg/m 2 administered intravenously every 21 days until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. • Administration via a central venous line is recommended to reduce the risk of extravasation that can cause tissue necrosis requiring debridement ( 5.3 ) • Administer ZEPZELCA as an intravenous infusion over 60 minutes. • To reduce the risk of nausea, administer corticosteroids and serotonin agonists prior to Cycle 1 and consider use for subsequent cycles. ( 2.5 ) • To reduce the risk of febrile neutropenia during treatment with ZEPZELCA in combination with atezolizumab or atezolizumab and hyaluronidase-tqjs, administer granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) [Refer to Prescribing Information]. • Moderate Hepatic Impairment : Recommended dosage is 1.6 mg/m 2 administered intravenously every 21 days until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. ( 2.4 , 8.6 ) • Severe Hepatic Impairment : Avoid use of ZEPZELCA. If use cannot be avoided, the recommended dosage is 1.6 mg/m 2 administered intravenously every 21 days until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. ( 2.4 , 8.6 ) 2.1 Recommended Dosage The recommended dosage of ZEPZELCA as a single-agent and as a combination with atezolizumab or atezolizumab and hyaluronidase-tqjs is 3.2 mg/m 2 by intravenous infusion over 60 minutes every 21 days until disease progression or unacceptable…
Lurbinectedin side effects
The following clinically significant adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling: • Myelosuppression [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] • Hepatotoxicity [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] • Extravasation Resulting in Tissue Necrosis [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] • Rhabdomyolysis [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4) ] The most common adverse reactions for ZEPZELCA as a single agent, including laboratory abnormalities, (≥ 20%) are leukopenia, lymphopenia, fatigue, anemia, neutropenia, increased creatinine, increased alanine aminotransferase, increased glucose, thrombocytopenia, nausea, decreased appetite, musculoskeletal pain, decreased albumin, constipation, dyspnea, decreased sodium, increased aspartate aminotransferase, vomiting, cough, decreased magnesium and diarrhea. ( 6.1 ) The most common adverse reactions, for ZEPZELCA in combination with atezolizumab including laboratory abnormalities, (≥ 30%) are: decreased lymphocytes, decreased platelets, decreased hemoglobin, decreased neutrophils, nausea, and fatigue/asthenia. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. at 1-800-520-5568 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…
Who shouldn’t take lurbinectedin
None. None. ( 4 )
Lurbinectedin drug interactions
Effect of Other Drugs on ZEPZELCA : Avoid coadministration with strong or a moderate CYP3A inhibitors and strong CYP3A inducers. ( 7.1 ) 7.1 Effect of Other Drugs on ZEPZELCA Strong and Moderate CYP3A Inhibitors Coadministration of ZEPZELCA with a strong or a moderate CYP3A inhibitor increases lurbinectedin systemic exposure [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3) ], which may increase the incidence and severity of adverse reactions to ZEPZELCA. Avoid grapefruit and Seville oranges during ZEPZELCA treatment, as these contain strong or moderate inhibitors of CYP3A. Avoid coadministration of ZEPZELCA with strong or moderate CYP3A inhibitors. If coadministration cannot be avoided, reduce the dose of ZEPZELCA [see Dosage and Administration (2.3) ] . Strong CYP3A Inducers Avoid coadministration of ZEPZELCA with strong CYP3A inducers. Coadministration of ZEPZELCA with a strong CYP3A inducer may decrease lurbinectedin systemic exposure, which may decrease the efficacy of ZEPZELCA [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3) ].
Every lurbinectedin 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: Zepzelca.
What people report to the FDA about lurbinectedin
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 470 reports naming lurbinectedin, and the FDA flagged 93% 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:
- neutropenia37 reports
- febrile neutropenia33 reports
- thrombocytopenia31 reports
- nausea24 reports
- asthenia21 reports
- acute kidney injury19 reports
- pneumonia18 reports
- anaemia17 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean lurbinectedin 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 lurbinectedin?
Zepzelca (Lurbinectedin) is a medication used to treat Small Cell Lung Carcinoma.
Can you take lurbinectedin 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 lurbinectedin 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 lurbinectedin come in?
Across the brands we track, lurbinectedin 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 lurbinectedin?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled lurbinectedin 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). Lurbinectedin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/lurbinectedin
- MLA
- “Lurbinectedin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/lurbinectedin.
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 lurbinectedin on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.