Stavudine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Stavudine is a medicine sold in the U.S. under 3 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
- Capsule, extended release · Capsule
- Sold as
- 3 products — Zerit XR, Stavudine and Zerit
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Yes
Every stavudine 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 | 72/100 | Prescription | Capsule | No data | — | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Capsule | No data | — | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Capsule | No data | — | View → |
What stavudine pills look like
Imprint codes, colour and shape from the FDA’s labelling data. Match the imprint on your pill — or search any imprint.
| Imprint | Strength | Colour | Shape | Maker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M;155 | 20 mg | pink | capsule | — |
| BMS;1965;20 | 20 mg | brown | capsule | — |
| BMS;1966;30 | 30 mg | orange | capsule | — |
| BMS;1967;40 | 40 mg | orange | capsule | — |
| M138 | 40 mg | orange | capsule | — |
| H;61 | 40 mg | orange | capsule | — |
Combination products containing stavudine
A combination is a different drug — different dosing, different warnings. It is listed here so you can find it, not so you can substitute it.
Stavudine and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for stavudine: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadStavudine is not a recommended agent during breastfeeding. Achieving and maintaining viral suppression with antiretroviral therapy decreases breastfeeding transmission risk to less than 1%, but not zero. Individuals with HIV who are on antiretroviral therapy with a sustained undetectable viral load and who choose to breastfeed should be supported in this decision. If a viral load is not suppressed, banked pasteurized donor milk or formula is recommended.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised July 15, 2024. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about stavudine
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 5,254 reports naming stavudine, and the FDA flagged 97% 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 resistance496 reports
- virologic failure456 reports
- viral mutation identified325 reports
- lipodystrophy acquired308 reports
- lactic acidosis276 reports
- treatment failure271 reports
- immune reconstitution syndrome256 reports
- vomiting246 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean stavudine 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 26, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
Can you take stavudine 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 stavudine 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 stavudine sold under?
We track 3 stavudine-containing products in the U.S.: Zerit XR, Stavudine and Zerit. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does stavudine come in?
Across the brands we track, stavudine is currently marketed as capsule, extended release and capsule, 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 stavudine?
Yes. Our catalog lists 1 generic stavudine 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). Stavudine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/stavudine
- MLA
- “Stavudine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/stavudine.
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 stavudine on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.