Tigecycline: uses, dosing, side effects & brands

Tigecycline is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for bacteroides infections, clostridium infections and escherichia coli infections. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.

By the pharmaranks editorial teamReviewed against the FDA (openFDA label, NDC Directory & Enforcement) sourcesUpdated Jul 24, 2026How we research

Key facts

Treats: Bacteroides Infections, Clostridium Infections and Escherichia Coli Infections
Available as: Injectable
Sold as: Tygacil
Prescription?: Prescription only
Generic available?: Not in our catalog
Boxed warning: Boxed warning

How tigecycline is dosed

From the FDA label for Tygacil (application NDA021821). Other tigecycline products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.

Initial dose of 100 mg followed by 50 mg every 12 hours administered intravenously over approximately 30 to 60 minutes. ( 2.1 ) • Severe hepatic impairment (Child Pugh C): Initial dose of 100 mg followed by 25 mg every 12 hours. ( 2.2 ) • Obtain baseline blood coagulation parameters, including fibrinogen, and continue to monitor regularly during treatment with TYGACIL. ( 2.4 , 5.6 ) 2.1 Recommended Adult Dosage The recommended dosage regimen for TYGACIL is an initial dose of 100 mg, followed by 50 mg every 12 hours. Intravenous infusions of TYGACIL should be administered over approximately 30 to 60 minutes every 12 hours. The recommended duration of treatment with TYGACIL for complicated skin and skin structure infections or for complicated intra-abdominal infections is 5 to 14 days. The recommended duration of treatment with TYGACIL for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia is 7 to 14 days. The duration of therapy should be guided by the severity and site of the infection and the patient's clinical and bacteriological progress. 2.2 Dosage in Patients With Hepatic Impairment No dosage adjustment is warranted in patients with mild to moderate hepatic impairment (Child Pugh A and Child Pugh B). In patients with severe hepatic impairment (Child Pugh C), the initial dose of TYGACIL should be 100 mg followed by a reduced maintenance dose of 25 mg every 12 hours. Patients with…

Tigecycline side effects

The following serious adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling: • All-Cause Mortality [see Boxed Warning and Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] • Mortality Imbalance and Lower Cure Rates in Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] • Anaphylaxis [ Warning and Precautions (5.3) ] • Hepatic Adverse Effects [ Warnings and Precautions (5.4) ] • Pancreatitis [ Warnings and Precautions (5.5) ] The most common adverse reactions (incidence >5%) are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, and increased SGPT. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Pfizer Inc. at 1-800-438-1985 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 directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. In clinical trials, 2514 patients were treated with TYGACIL. TYGACIL was discontinued due to adverse reactions in 7% of patients compared to 6% for all comparators. Table 1 shows the incidence of adverse reactions through test of cure reported in ≥2% of patients in these trials. Table 1. Incidence (%) of Adverse Reactions Through Test of Cure Reported in ≥ 2% of Patients Treated in Clinical Studies Body…

Who shouldn’t take tigecycline

TYGACIL is contraindicated for use in patients who have known hypersensitivity to tigecycline or to any of the excipients. Reactions have included anaphylactic reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) and Adverse Reactions (6.2) ]. • Known hypersensitivity to tigecycline. ( 4 )

Tigecycline drug interactions

Warfarin : Suitable anticoagulation test should be monitored if TYGACIL is administered to patients receiving warfarin. ( 7.1 ) • Calcineurin Inhibitors : Serum concentrations of calcineurin inhibitors (e.g., tacrolimus, cyclosporine) should be monitored during treatment with TYGACIL due to risk of toxicity. ( 7.2 ) 7.1 Warfarin Prothrombin time or other suitable anticoagulation test should be monitored if TYGACIL is administered with warfarin [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3) ] . 7.2 Calcineurin Inhibitors Concomitant use of TYGACIL and calcineurin inhibitors such as tacrolimus or cyclosporine may lead to an increase in serum trough concentrations of the calcineurin inhibitors. Therefore, serum concentrations of the calcineurin inhibitor should be monitored during treatment with TYGACIL to avoid drug toxicity. 7.3 Oral Contraceptives Concurrent use of antibacterial drugs with oral contraceptives may render oral contraceptives less effective.

Every tigecycline 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: Tygacil.

Tigecycline and breastfeeding

From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.

Tigecycline is a tetracycline antibiotic. A number of reviews have stated that tetracyclines are contraindicated during breastfeeding because of possible staining of infants’ dental enamel or bone deposition of tetracyclines. However, available literature indicates that infant harm is not likely with short-term use of a tetracycline during lactation. Tigecycline is 71 to 89% bound to plasma proteins, so milk levels are likely low and absorption by the infant is inhibited by the calcium in breastmilk. Although the manufacturer recommends avoiding breastfeeding during administration of tigecycline and for 9 days after the last dose, short-term use of tigecycline is probably acceptable in nursing mothers. As a theoretical precaution, avoid prolonged or repeat courses during nursing. Monitor the infant for rash and for possible effects on the gastrointestinal flora, such as diarrhea or candidiasis (thrush, diaper rash).

Full LactMed record for tigecycline: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider instead

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised June 15, 2025. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.

What people report to the FDA about tigecycline

The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 4,253 reports naming tigecycline, 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:

nausea301 reports
sepsis209 reports
drug resistance202 reports
vomiting200 reports
thrombocytopenia196 reports
septic shock181 reports
pathogen resistance172 reports
diarrhoea152 reports

Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean tigecycline 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

How long it stays in your system →

Frequently asked questions

What is tigecycline?

TYGACIL (tigecycline) is a tetracycline class antibacterial for intravenous infusion.

Can you take tigecycline 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 tigecycline 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 tigecycline come in?

Across the brands we track, tigecycline 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 tigecycline?

We do not currently list a generic-labelled tigecycline 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). Tigecycline: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/tigecycline
MLA: “Tigecycline: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/tigecycline.

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 tigecycline on DailyMed (NIH) ↗ — including its boxed warning in full.