Zirconium Cyclosilicate: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Zirconium Cyclosilicate is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for hyperkalemia. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats
- Hyperkalemia
- Available as
- Powder
- Sold as
- Lokelma
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How zirconium cyclosilicate is dosed
From the FDA label for Lokelma (application NDA207078). Other zirconium cyclosilicate products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Recommended starting dose is 10 g administered three times a day for up to 48 hours. ( 2.1 ) • For maintenance treatment, recommended dose is 10 g once daily. Adjust dose at one-week intervals as needed (by 5 g daily) to obtain desired serum potassium target range. ( 2.1 ) Patients on Chronic Hemodialysis • Recommended starting dose is 5 g once daily on non-dialysis days. ( 2.2 ) See full Prescribing Information for additional dosing instructions, as well as reconstitution and administration instructions for the oral suspension. 2.1 Recommended Dosage For initial treatment of hyperkalemia, the recommended dose of LOKELMA is 10 g administered three times a day for up to 48 hours. Administer LOKELMA orally as a suspension in water [see Dosage and Administration (2.3) ] . For continued treatment, the recommended dose is 10 g once daily. Monitor serum potassium and adjust the dose of LOKELMA based on the serum potassium level and desired target range. During maintenance treatment, up-titrate based on the serum potassium level at intervals of 1-week or longer and in increments of 5 g. Decrease the dose of LOKELMA or discontinue if the serum potassium is below the desired target range. The recommended maintenance dose range is from 5 g every other day to 15 g daily. 2.2 Dosage Adjustment for Patients on Chronic Hemodialysis For patients on chronic hemodialysis, administer LOKELMA…
Zirconium Cyclosilicate side effects
The following adverse reactions are discussed in greater detail elsewhere in the label: • Edema [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] . Most common adverse reactions with LOKELMA: mild to moderate edema. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact AstraZeneca at 1-800-236-9933 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. 6.1 Clinical Studies Experience Because clinical studies are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical studies of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical studies of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. The total exposure to LOKELMA in the safety and efficacy clinical trials of patients not on dialysis with hyperkalemia was 1,760 patients with 652 patients exposed to LOKELMA for at least 6 months and 507 patients exposed for at least one year. The population (n=1,009) in the placebo-controlled trials included patients aged 22 to 96 years, females (n=454), Caucasians (n=859) and Blacks (n=130). Patients had hyperkalemia in association with comorbid diseases such as chronic kidney disease, heart failure, and diabetes mellitus. In placebo-controlled trials in which patients who were not on dialysis were treated with once daily doses of LOKELMA for up to 28 days, edema was reported in 4.4% of patients receiving 5 g, 5.9% of patients receiving 10 g and…
Who shouldn’t take zirconium cyclosilicate
None. None. ( 4 )
Zirconium Cyclosilicate drug interactions
LOKELMA can transiently increase gastric pH. As a result, LOKELMA can change the absorption of co-administered drugs that exhibit pH-dependent solubility, potentially leading to altered efficacy or safety of these drugs when taken close to the time LOKELMA is administered. In general, other oral medications should be administered at least 2 hours before or 2 hours after LOKELMA [see Dosage and Administration (2.3) and Clinical Pharmacology (12.3) ] . LOKELMA is not expected to impact systemic exposure of drugs that do not exhibit pH-dependent solubility and so spacing is not needed if it has been determined that the concomitant medication does not exhibit pH-dependent solubility. In general, other oral medications should be administered at least 2 hours before or 2 hours after LOKELMA. ( 2.3 , 7 , 12.3 ) Drug Interactions Thirty-six (36) drugs were tested in-vitro to determine potential interactions with LOKELMA. Sixteen (16) drugs tested did not show an in vitro interaction with LOKELMA (allopurinol, apixaban, aspirin, captopril, cyclosporine, digoxin, ethinyl estradiol, lisinopril, magnesium, metformin, phenytoin, prednisone, propranolol, quinapril, spironolactone and ticagrelor). Nine (9) of the 20 drugs that showed an in vitro interaction were subsequently tested in vivo with LOKELMA 10 gin healthy volunteers. Losartan, glipizide and levothyroxine did not show any changes in exposure when co-administered with LOKELMA. However, there was an increase in systemic exposure to weak acids such as furosemide and atorvastatin, and a decrease in systemic exposure to weak bases such as dabigatran when co-administered with LOKELMA, as shown in Figure 2. These changes are consistent with the hypothesis that LOKELMA, by elevating gastric pH, affects the systemic exposure of co-administered drugs whose solubility is pH-dependent [see Drug Interactions (7) ] . In another drug-drug interaction study in healthy volunteers, co-administration of LOKELMA 15 g decreased the systemic exposures of tacrolimus (Figure 2), likely due to LOKELMA’s action on elevating gastric pH. In the same study, co-administration of LOKELMA and cyclosporine did not show a clinically meaningful interaction. Figure 2: Effects of LOKELMA 10 g or 15 g on the Pharmacokinetic Exposures of Other Orally Administered Medications figure_2
Every zirconium cyclosilicate 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: Lokelma.
How long zirconium cyclosilicate keeps
No zirconium cyclosilicate 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 zirconium cyclosilicate expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsRelated calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is zirconium cyclosilicate?
LOKELMA is a powder for oral suspension. The active ingredient in LOKELMA is sodium zirconium cyclosilicate, a potassium binder. Sodium zirconium cyclosilicate is a non-absorbed zirconium silicate that preferentially exchanges potassium for hydrogen and sodium. LOKELMA is an odorless, insoluble white to grey powder for oral suspension. It has a mean particle size of 20 µm and includes no more than 3% of particles with a diameter below 3 µm. Each 5 g of sodium zirconium cyclosilicate contains 400 mg of sodium. The chemical formula of sodium zirconium cyclosilicate is Na ~1.5 H ~0.5 ZrSi 3 O 9 •2–3H 2 O. Figure 1: Crystal Structure of Sodium Zirconium Cyclosilicate Figure 1
Can you take zirconium cyclosilicate 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 zirconium cyclosilicate 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 zirconium cyclosilicate come in?
Across the brands we track, zirconium cyclosilicate is currently marketed as powder, 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 zirconium cyclosilicate?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled zirconium cyclosilicate 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). Zirconium Cyclosilicate: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/zirconium-cyclosilicate
- MLA
- “Zirconium Cyclosilicate: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/zirconium-cyclosilicate.
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 zirconium cyclosilicate on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.