Nonoxynol-9: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Nonoxynol-9 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
- Spray/Inhaler · Sponge
- Sold as
- 2 products — Delfen and Today
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
Every nonoxynol-9 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 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Spray/Inhaler | No data | — | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Sponge | No data | — | View → |
Nonoxynol-9 recalls
From the FDA Enforcement database. A recall covers specific lots — not the drug as a whole.
Nonoxynol-9 and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for nonoxynol-9: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadNonoxynol-9 is a relatively nontoxic nonionic surfactant and only trivial amounts of the drug have been found in the milk of animals after vaginal administration. Limited information indicates that breastfed infants of mothers using vaginal nonoxynol-9 experienced no adverse effects. Vaginal use of nonoxynol-9 is acceptable in nursing mothers.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised June 15, 2024. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about nonoxynol-9
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 11 reports naming nonoxynol-9, and the FDA flagged 55% 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:
- dysuria2 reports
- metrorrhagia2 reports
- abdominal pain1 reports
- abdominal pain upper1 reports
- abnormal withdrawal bleeding1 reports
- abortion spontaneous1 reports
- adverse drug reaction1 reports
- burning sensation1 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean nonoxynol-9 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
Can you take nonoxynol-9 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 nonoxynol-9 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 nonoxynol-9 sold under?
We track 2 nonoxynol-9-containing products in the U.S.: Delfen and Today. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does nonoxynol-9 come in?
Across the brands we track, nonoxynol-9 is currently marketed as spray/inhaler and sponge, 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 nonoxynol-9?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled nonoxynol-9 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.
Has nonoxynol-9 been recalled?
The FDA's Enforcement database lists 1 recall record whose product description mentions nonoxynol-9. The most recent: VCF Vaginal Contraceptive Film (nonoxynol-9 (Mar 21, 2024). A recall applies to specific lots, not to the drug as a whole — check the record for the affected lot numbers.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Nonoxynol-9: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nonoxynol-9
- MLA
- “Nonoxynol-9: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nonoxynol-9.
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 nonoxynol-9 on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.