Verteporfin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Verteporfin is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for choroidal neovascularization. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats
- Choroidal Neovascularization
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Visudyne
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How verteporfin is dosed
From the FDA label for Visudyne (application NDA021119). Other verteporfin products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Recommended Dose : 6 mg/m 2 body surface area. ( 2.2 ) • Reconstitution : Reconstitute each vial of VISUDYNE with 7 mL of Sterile Water for Injection to provide 7.5 mL containing 2 mg/mL of verteporfin. Reconstituted VISUDYNE must be protected from light and used within 4 hours. ( 2.3 ) • Dilution : Dilute desired dose of reconstituted VISUDYNE with 5% Dextrose for Injection to a total infusion volume of 30 mL. ( 2.3 ) • Infusion : Administer intravenously over 10 minutes at a rate of 3 mL/minute, using an appropriate syringe pump and in-line filter. ( 2.3 ) • Light Administration : The recommended light dose is 50 J/cm 2 of neovascular lesion administered at an intensity of 600 mW/cm 2 . The wavelength of the laser light should be 689±3 nm. This light dose is administered over 83 seconds, starting 15 minutes after the start of the VISUDYNE infusion. ( 2.4 ) 2.1 Important Administration Instructions A course of VISUDYNE (verteporfin for injection) therapy is a two-step process requiring administration of both drug and light. • The first step is the administration of VISUDYNE. • The second step is the activation of VISUDYNE with light from a nonthermal diode laser. The physician should re-evaluate the patient 3 months after treatment and if choroidal neovascular leakage is detected on fluorescein angiography, therapy may be repeated. Lesion Size Determination The greatest…
Verteporfin side effects
The following serious adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling: • Local Adverse Reactions – Extravasation [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.1 )] • Exposure to Sun or Direct Light [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 )] • Decreased Vision after Treatment [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 )] • Porphyria and Hypersensitivity [see Contraindications ( 4 )] Most common adverse reactions (incidence ˃10%) are injection site reactions and visual disturbances. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Bausch & Lomb Incorporated at 1-800-553-5340 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. Severe chest pain, vasovagal and hypersensitivity reactions have been reported. Vasovagal and hypersensitivity reactions on rare occasions can be severe. These reactions may include syncope, sweating, dizziness, rash, dyspnea, flushing and changes in blood pressure and heart rate. General symptoms can include headache, malaise, urticaria, and pruritus. The most frequently reported adverse reactions to VISUDYNE (verteporfin for injection) are injection site reactions (including…
Who shouldn’t take verteporfin
VISUDYNE (verteporfin for injection) is contraindicated for patients with porphyria or a known hypersensitivity to any component of this preparation [see Adverse Reactions ( 6 )] . VISUDYNE (verteporfin for injection) is contraindicated for patients with porphyria or a known hypersensitivity to any component of this preparation. ( 4 )
Verteporfin drug interactions
Drug interaction studies in humans have not been conducted with VISUDYNE. Verteporfin is rapidly eliminated by the liver, mainly as unchanged drug. Metabolism is limited and occurs by liver and plasma esterases. Microsomal cytochrome P450 does not appear to play a role in verteporfin metabolism. Based on the mechanism of action of verteporfin, many drugs used concomitantly could influence the effect of VISUDYNE therapy. Possible examples include the following: Calcium channel blockers, polymyxin B or radiation therapy could enhance the rate of VISUDYNE uptake by the vascular endothelium. Other photosensitizing agents (e.g., tetracyclines, sulfonamides, phenothiazines, sulfonylurea hypoglycemic agents, thiazide diuretics and griseofulvin) could increase the potential for skin photosensitivity reactions. Compounds that quench active oxygen species or scavenge radicals, such as dimethyl sulfoxide, β-carotene, ethanol, formate and mannitol, would be expected to decrease VISUDYNE activity. Drugs that decrease clotting, vasoconstriction or platelet aggregation, e.g., thromboxane A 2 inhibitors, could also decrease the efficacy of VISUDYNE therapy.
Every verteporfin 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: Visudyne.
What people report to the FDA about verteporfin
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 186 reports naming verteporfin, and the FDA flagged 96% 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:
- visual acuity reduced39 reports
- polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy23 reports
- retinal haemorrhage23 reports
- choroidal neovascularisation14 reports
- retinal detachment14 reports
- subretinal fluid13 reports
- detachment of retinal pigment epithelium12 reports
- macular oedema11 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean verteporfin 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
What is verteporfin?
VISUDYNE ® (verteporfin for injection) is a sterile, photoenhancer which is light activated drug when used in photodynamic therapy for intravenous administration. The finished drug product is a lyophilized dark green cake.
Can you take verteporfin 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 verteporfin 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 verteporfin come in?
Across the brands we track, verteporfin 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 verteporfin?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled verteporfin 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). Verteporfin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/verteporfin
- MLA
- “Verteporfin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/verteporfin.
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 verteporfin on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.