Nifedipine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Nifedipine is a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker sold in the U.S. under 3 brand and generic names, for variant angina pectoris, hypertension and stable angina. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Dihydropyridine Calcium Channel Blocker
- Treats (across its forms)
- Variant Angina Pectoris, Hypertension and Stable Angina
- Available as
- Capsule · Tablet, extended release
- Sold as
- 3 products — Procardia, Procardia XL and Adalat
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- Half-life
- about 2 hours from an immediate-release capsule; about 7 hours as measured from the once-daily extended-release tablet
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $5 for a 30-count supply — not your price
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How Procardia XL is dosed
From the FDA label for Procardia XL (application NDA019684). Other nifedipine products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Dosage must be adjusted according to each patient's needs. Therapy for either hypertension or angina should be initiated with 30 or 60 mg once daily. PROCARDIA XL Extended Release Tablets should be swallowed whole and should not be bitten or divided. In general, titration should proceed over a 7–14 day period so that the physician can fully assess the response to each dose level and monitor blood pressure before proceeding to higher doses. Since steady-state plasma levels are achieved on the second day of dosing, titration may proceed more rapidly, if symptoms so warrant, provided the patient is assessed frequently. Titration to doses above 120 mg are not recommended. Angina patients controlled on PROCARDIA capsules alone or in combination with other antianginal medications may be safely switched to PROCARDIA XL Extended Release Tablets at the nearest equivalent total daily dose (e.g., 30 mg t.i.d. of PROCARDIA capsules may be changed to 90 mg once daily of PROCARDIA XL Extended Release Tablets). Subsequent titration to higher or lower doses may be necessary and should be initiated as clinically warranted. Experience with doses greater than 90 mg in patients with angina is limited. Therefore, doses greater than 90 mg should be used with caution and only when clinically warranted. Avoid co-administration of nifedipine with grapefruit juice (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY and…
Everything below is the FDA label for Procardia XL (tablet, extended release). Nifedipine is also sold as capsule, and those are different medicines to take — follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Procardia XL side effects
Over 1000 patients from both controlled and open trials with PROCARDIA XL Extended Release Tablets in hypertension and angina were included in the evaluation of adverse experiences. All side effects reported during PROCARDIA XL Extended Release Tablet therapy were tabulated independent of their causal relation to medication. The most common side effect reported with PROCARDIA XL was edema which was dose related and ranged in frequency from approximately 10% to about 30% at the highest dose studied (180 mg). Other common adverse experiences reported in placebo-controlled trials include: Adverse Effect PROCARDIA XL (%) (N=707) Placebo (%) (N=266) Headache 15.8 9.8 Fatigue 5.9 4.1 Dizziness 4.1 4.5 Constipation 3.3 2.3 Nausea 3.3 1.9 Of these, only edema and headache were more common in PROCARDIA XL patients than placebo patients. The following adverse reactions occurred with an incidence of less than 3.0%. With the exception of leg cramps, the incidence of these side effects was similar to that of placebo alone. Body as a Whole/Systemic: asthenia, flushing, pain Cardiovascular: palpitations Central Nervous System: insomnia, nervousness, paresthesia, somnolence Dermatologic: pruritus, rash Gastrointestinal: abdominal pain, diarrhea, dry mouth, dyspepsia, flatulence Musculoskeletal: arthralgia, leg cramps Respiratory: chest pain (nonspecific), dyspnea Urogenital: impotence,…
Who shouldn’t take Procardia XL
Known hypersensitivity reaction to nifedipine.
Procardia XL drug interactions
Beta-adrenergic blocking agents (see INDICATIONS AND USAGE and WARNINGS ) Experience in over 1400 patients with PROCARDIA capsules in a noncomparative clinical trial has shown that concomitant administration of nifedipine and beta-blocking agents is usually well tolerated, but there have been occasional literature reports suggesting that the combination may increase the likelihood of congestive heart failure, severe hypotension, or exacerbation of angina. Long-acting Nitrates Nifedipine may be safely co-administered with nitrates, but there have been no controlled studies to evaluate the antianginal effectiveness of this combination. Digitalis Administration of nifedipine with digoxin increased digoxin levels in nine of twelve normal volunteers. The average increase was 45%. Another investigator found no increase in digoxin levels in thirteen patients with coronary artery disease. In an uncontrolled study of over two hundred patients with congestive heart failure during which digoxin blood levels were not measured, digitalis toxicity was not observed. Since there have been isolated reports of patients with elevated digoxin levels, it is recommended that digoxin levels be monitored when initiating, adjusting, and discontinuing nifedipine to avoid possible over- or under-digitalization. Coumarin Anticoagulants There have been rare reports of increased prothrombin time in patients taking coumarin anticoagulants to whom nifedipine was administered. However, the relationship to nifedipine therapy is uncertain. Cimetidine A study in six healthy volunteers has shown a significant increase in peak nifedipine plasma levels (80%) and area-under-the-curve (74%), after a one week course of cimetidine at 1000 mg per day and nifedipine at 40 mg per day. Ranitidine produced smaller, non-significant increases. The effect may be mediated by the known inhibition of cimetidine on hepatic cytochrome P-450, the enzyme system probably responsible for the first-pass metabolism of nifedipine. If nifedipine therapy is initiated in a patient currently receiving cimetidine, cautious titration is advised. Nifedipine is metabolized by CYP3A4. Co-administration of nifedipine with phenytoin, an inducer of CYP3A4, lowers the systemic exposure to nifedipine by approximately 70%. Avoid co-administration of nifedipine with phenytoin or any known CYP3A4 inducer or consider an alternative antihypertensive therapy. CYP3A inhibitors such as fluconazole, itraconazole, clarithromycin, erythromycin, nefazodone, fluoxetine, saquinavir, indinavir, and nelfinavir may result in increased exposure to nifedipine when co-administered. Careful monitoring and dose adjustment may be necessary; consider initiating nifedipine at the lowest dose available if given concomitantly with these medications. Other Interactions Grapefruit Juice Co-administration of nifedipine with grapefruit juice resulted in approximately a doubling in nifedipine AUC and Cmax with no change in half-life. The increased plasma concentrations most likely result from inhibition of CYP 3A4 related first-pass metabolism. Avoid ingestion of grapefruit and grapefruit juice should be avoided while taking nifedipine.
Nifedipine and food
Grapefruit & grapefruit juice
Avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice with this medicine unless your pharmacist or the label says it's fine — check, because not every drug in a class is affected the same way.
Grapefruit Juice and Some Drugs Don't Mix — U.S. FDA ↗
Every nifedipine product we track (3)
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 | 64/100 | Prescription | Capsule | Generic | $5 | View → | |
| 2 | 64/100 | Prescription | Tablet | Generic | $5 | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Capsule | Generic | $5 | View → |
What nifedipine pills look like
Imprint codes, colour and shape from the FDA’s labelling data. Match the imprint on your pill — or search any imprint.
Can you crush or split nifedipine?
At least one nifedipineproduct is labelled to be swallowed whole — crushing an extended-release tablet releases the whole day’s dose at once. Which applies depends on the form you were given.
What each nifedipine label says about crushing, splitting and chewingHow long nifedipine keeps
No nifedipine 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 nifedipine expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsNifedipine and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for nifedipine: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadBecause of the low levels of nifedipine in breastmilk, amounts ingested by the infant are small, even in women with a genetic variant of breast cancer resistance protein that increases the amount of drug transferred to milk. No adverse effects have been reported among infants exposed to nifedipine in breastmilk. Nifedipine is used to treat painful nipple vasospasm (e.g., Raynaud phenomenon) in nursing mothers who do not respond to other measures such as hot compresses and avoidance of cold exposure. The dosages of nifedipine most commonly reportedly used to treat the condition is 20 to 60 mg daily either as a single dose of a sustained-release product or 10 to 20 mg 3 times daily of an immediate-release product. Lower dosages can be tried if these doses are not tolerated.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised November 15, 2025. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about nifedipine
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 43,785 reports naming nifedipine, and the FDA flagged 80% 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:
- dyspnoea2,306 reports
- diarrhoea2,238 reports
- fatigue2,174 reports
- nausea2,077 reports
- headache1,856 reports
- dizziness1,652 reports
- hypertension1,641 reports
- hypotension1,432 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean nifedipine 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 August 25, 2026.
How long nifedipine stays in your system
The elimination half-life of nifedipine is about 2 hours from an immediate-release capsule; about 7 hours as measured from the once-daily extended-release tablet. Nifedipine's half-life depends on the formulation you take, so a single number is misleading. The label states the elimination half-life is "approximately 7 hours" when nifedipine is given as the extended-release (osmotic/GITS) tablet, "in contrast to the known 2 hour elimination half-life of nifedipine administered as an immediate release capsule." The ~7-hour figure is the apparent half-life driven by the tablet's slow, ~24-hour drug release, not a slower elimination of the molecule itself. The label does not report separate distribution and terminal phases. Nifedipine is not a prodrug, and it has no active metabolite to worry about: it is "extensively metabolized to highly water soluble, inactive metabolites" via CYP3A4 (60-80% excreted in urine as metabolites, <0.1% unchanged), so the parent drug's half-life is the whole story. Populations the label names: in older adults (over 60), a sustained-release formulation showed a longer half-life in elderly subjects (6.7 hours) than in young subjects (3.8 hours), with reduced clearance and Cmax 36% higher; in liver impairment (cirrhosis), nifedipine "has a longer elimination half-life and higher bioavailability than in healthy volunteers"; in kidney impairment, the label reports no significant alteration in nifedipine pharmacokinetics in patients on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis (studied with the immediate-release capsule), though it advises caution because renal disease could change absorption from the extended-release tablet. Protein binding is high (92-98%) and "may be greatly reduced" in renal or hepatic impairment. Because nifedipine is a CYP3A4 substrate, drugs and foods that inhibit or induce CYP3A4 (grapefruit juice among them) can change its clearance. This describes how long the drug persists in plasma; it is not a drug-test detection window and not dosing guidance.
Nifedipine Extended-Release Tablets, USP — FDA label (DailyMed), CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY: Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism ↗Half-life is how long the body takes to clear half a dose. It is not the same as how long a drug test can detect it, and it varies with age, kidney and liver function.
Related guides
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Frequently asked questions
What is Procardia XL?
Nifedipine is a drug belonging to a class of pharmacological agents known as the calcium channel blockers.
What kind of drug is nifedipine?
The FDA classifies nifedipine as a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker. Dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers stop calcium from entering the muscle cells in your blood vessel walls. With less calcium, those muscles relax and the vessels widen, which lowers blood pressure and eases the heart's workload. 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.
How long does nifedipine stay in your system?
The elimination half-life of nifedipine is about 2 hours from an immediate-release capsule; about 7 hours as measured from the once-daily extended-release tablet — that is how long the body takes to clear half of a dose. Nifedipine's half-life depends on the formulation you take, so a single number is misleading. The label states the elimination half-life is "approximately 7 hours" when nifedipine is given as the extended-release (osmotic/GITS) tablet, "in contrast to the known 2 hour elimination half-life of nifedipine administered as an immediate release capsule." The ~7-hour figure is the apparent half-life driven by the tablet's slow, ~24-hour drug release, not a slower elimination of the molecule itself. The label does not report separate distribution and terminal phases. Nifedipine is not a prodrug, and it has no active metabolite to worry about: it is "extensively metabolized to highly water soluble, inactive metabolites" via CYP3A4 (60-80% excreted in urine as metabolites, <0.1% unchanged), so the parent drug's half-life is the whole story. Populations the label names: in older adults (over 60), a sustained-release formulation showed a longer half-life in elderly subjects (6.7 hours) than in young subjects (3.8 hours), with reduced clearance and Cmax 36% higher; in liver impairment (cirrhosis), nifedipine "has a longer elimination half-life and higher bioavailability than in healthy volunteers"; in kidney impairment, the label reports no significant alteration in nifedipine pharmacokinetics in patients on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis (studied with the immediate-release capsule), though it advises caution because renal disease could change absorption from the extended-release tablet. Protein binding is high (92-98%) and "may be greatly reduced" in renal or hepatic impairment. Because nifedipine is a CYP3A4 substrate, drugs and foods that inhibit or induce CYP3A4 (grapefruit juice among them) can change its clearance. This describes how long the drug persists in plasma; it is not a drug-test detection window and not dosing guidance. Half-life is not the same as how long a drug test can detect the drug, and it varies with age, kidney and liver function.
Can you take nifedipine 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 nifedipine 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 nifedipine sold under?
We track 3 nifedipine-containing products in the U.S.: Procardia, Procardia XL and Adalat. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does nifedipine come in?
Across the brands we track, nifedipine is currently marketed as capsule and tablet, extended release, 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 nifedipine?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled nifedipine 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.
What should I avoid while taking nifedipine?
Food: grapefruit and grapefruit juice (and, for some drugs, seville oranges) — see the food section above for what each one does and whether it means avoiding it or just being consistent. This is what the FDA label and our cited sources say — it is not a complete list. Your pharmacist can check your own combination.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Nifedipine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nifedipine
- MLA
- “Nifedipine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nifedipine.
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 nifedipine on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.