Nalbuphine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Nalbuphine is a medicine sold in the U.S. under 2 brand and generic names. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Available as
- Injectable · Solution
- Sold as
- 2 products — Nalbuphine Hydrochloride and Nubain
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Yes
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $4 per ml — not your price
Every nalbuphine product we track (2)
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 | 72/100 | Prescription | Injectable | Generic | $4 | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Solution | Generic | $4 | View → |
How long nalbuphine keeps
No nalbuphine 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.
Nalbuphine and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for nalbuphine: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadNalbuphine is excreted into breastmilk in amounts much smaller than the dose given to infants for analgesia. Because nalbuphine has poor oral absorption, it is unlikely to adversely affect the breastfed infant. If nalbuphine is required by the mother of a newborn, it is not a reason to discontinue breastfeeding; however, once the mother's milk comes in, it is best to provide pain control with a nonnarcotic analgesic and limit maternal intake to 2 to 3 days with close infant monitoring. If the baby shows signs of increased sleepiness (more than usual), difficulty breastfeeding, breathing difficulties, or limpness, a physician should be contacted immediately. Withdrawal symptoms can occur in breastfed infants when maternal administration of an opioid analgesic is stopped, or when breastfeeding is stopped.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised May 15, 2026. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about nalbuphine
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 241 reports naming nalbuphine, and the FDA flagged 70% 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:
- drug hypersensitivity37 reports
- foetal exposure during pregnancy10 reports
- neonatal asphyxia10 reports
- neonatal epileptic seizure10 reports
- vomiting9 reports
- hypotension8 reports
- malaise7 reports
- pancreatitis acute7 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean nalbuphine 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.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved August 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
Can you take nalbuphine 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 nalbuphine 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 nalbuphine sold under?
We track 2 nalbuphine-containing products in the U.S.: Nalbuphine Hydrochloride and Nubain. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does nalbuphine come in?
Across the brands we track, nalbuphine is currently marketed as injectable and solution, 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 nalbuphine?
Yes. Our catalog lists 1 generic nalbuphine product alongside the brand versions. A generic has the same active ingredient and must meet the FDA's bioequivalence standard; it usually costs less. Ask your pharmacist which one your plan covers.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Nalbuphine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nalbuphine
- MLA
- “Nalbuphine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nalbuphine.
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 nalbuphine on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.