Drug & supplement interaction

Banaba + Tocilizumab

Tocilizumab brand name: Actemra.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 13, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Banaba and Tocilizumab in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Banaba and Tocilizumab

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Tocilizumab and Banaba in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Banaba safety at a glance

Banaba overall Use caution Generally well tolerated in short studies, but long-term safety is not well established.
Pregnancy Avoid Not enough safety data, so it is best avoided during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding Avoid No reliable safety information exists for nursing, so avoid use.

Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Tocilizumab and Banaba? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Tocilizumab

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Tocilizumab is filed under 2 classifications — immunosuppressants, hepatotoxic drugs. Banaba has documented interactions with 3 drug classes — the most serious being antidiabetes drugs (moderate), antihypertensive drugs (moderate) and organic anion-transporting polypeptide substrates (oatp) (moderate) — and none of Tocilizumab’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Banaba Does Interact With Other Medications

Banaba has 299 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Tocilizumab isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 299 No known interaction 2,531 (incl. Tocilizumab)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Banaba

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Banaba. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Banaba and Tocilizumab May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do.

  • Stomach upset Additional detail

    Banaba

    “Orally, banaba extract appears to be well tolerated.

    Most Common Adverse Effects:

    Orally: Diaphoresis, dizziness, headache, palpitations, stomach upset, tremor, and weakness have been reported with a specific product containing extracts of banaba leaf and Padang cassia (Inlacin, Dexa Medica); however, it is unclear if these adverse effects were caused by banaba extract, Padang cassia, or the combination.”

    Banaba · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in cluster headache.

    Tocilizumab

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Tocilizumab. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Dizziness / Headache Additional detail

    Banaba

    “Orally, dizziness, headache, tremor, and weakness have been reported with a specific product containing extracts of banaba leaf and Padang cassia (Inlacin, Dexa Medica); however, it is unclear if these adverse effects were caused by banaba extract, Padang cassia, or the combination.”

    Banaba · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in cluster headache.

    2 sources cited
    1. 92848. Manaf A, Tjandrawinata RR, Malinda D. Insulin sensitizer in prediabetes: a clinical study with DLBS3233, a combined bioactive fraction of Cinnamomum burmanii and Lagerstroemia speciosa. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2016;10:1279-89. PubMed
    2. 92849. Tjokroprawiro A, Murtiwi S, Tjandrawinata RR. DLBS3233, a combined bioactive fraction of Cinnamomum burmanii and Lagerstroemia speciosa, in type-2 diabetes mellitus patients inadequately controlled by metformin and other oral antidiabetic agents. J Comple

    Tocilizumab

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Tocilizumab. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Banaba but not commonly for Tocilizumab: a fast or pounding heartbeat, sweating and tremor or shakiness.

Effects for Tocilizumab come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Banaba come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 112,048 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Tocilizumab that mention that effect — a reporting proportion, not an incidence rate and not evidence the drug caused it. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Tocilizumab

This page covers Banaba only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Tocilizumab page lists 89 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Beer (major), Siberian Cocklebur (major), Wine (major), Active Hexose Correlated Compound (ahcc) (moderate) and Alfalfa (moderate).

By severity: 3 major · 85 moderate · 1 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Tocilizumab page

“Tocilizumab (Actemra) calms an overactive immune system in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, and it is also known to strain the liver, which is exactly where its supplement interactions concentrate. This page deserves genuine care.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Tocilizumab interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Banaba as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 573 real supplement products containing Banaba, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Banaba. Even though Banaba itself has no known interaction with Tocilizumab, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Banaba and Tocilizumab Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Banaba
Top 25%

#251 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Tocilizumab
Top half

#1,235 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Banaba reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Banaba and Tocilizumab records this page draws on were last updated July 10, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Banaba

What is Banaba?

Banaba
  • Blood sugar support
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Weight management
  • High blood pressure
  • Cholesterol support

Banaba is a leaf extract most often used to help support healthy blood sugar, and small early studies suggest its active compound corosolic acid may modestly lower glucose. The overall evidence is limited and short-term, so it should not replace prescribed diabetes care. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor before trying it, especially if you take blood sugar medicine.

Lagerstroemia speciosa · Lythraceae · Leaves · Capsules, tablets, standardized extracts (e.g., corosolic acid extracts), tea

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Banaba is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Banaba record says about it on its own.

Banaba: dosing

There is no official or well-established standard dose for banaba. Products vary widely, and many are standardized to a certain percentage of corosolic acid.The safest approach is to follow the directions on the product label and not exceed the recommended amount.

From our Banaba monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Banaba monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Tocilizumab Injection

What Is Tocilizumab Injection Used For?

Brand name: Actemra

Tocilizumab injection is used to treat several serious inflammatory and immune-related conditions. Actemra (tocilizumab) is indicated for moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis in adults who haven't responded well to other disease-modifying drugs, giant cell arteritis in adults, systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) to slow lung function decline, polyarticular and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis in patients 2 years and older, and severe or life-threatening cytokine release syndrome (CRS) caused by CAR T-cell therapy in adults and children 2 and older.

Actemra is also approved for hospitalized adults and children aged 2 and older with COVID-19 who are on corticosteroids and need supplemental oxygen or mechanical breathing support. Not every brand or route is approved for every use — your prescriber will choose the right form for your specific condition.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Tocilizumab

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (113,819 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Rheumatoid arthritis 22,747 reports
Arthralgia 17,322 reports
Joint swelling 16,327 reports
Fatigue 15,391 reports
Rash 13,781 reports
See full Tocilizumab Injection drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Banaba

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Banaba — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
299Moderate
0Minor
2,530No known interaction
299 Moderate 2,530 No interaction
Moderate

299 interactions

Showing 60 of 299 moderate interactions — see all 299 on the Banaba page.

No interaction 2,530 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Banaba against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,530 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Banaba list.

See the full Banaba interactions page
See every supplement checked against Tocilizumab, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Banaba References

The 7 references that drive our Banaba monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Judy WV, Hari SP, Stogsdill WW, et al. Antidiabetic activity of a standardized extract (Glucosol) from Lagerstroemia speciosa leaves in Type II diabetics. A dose-dependence study. J Ethnopharmacol 2003;87:115-7. PubMed
  2. Kakuda T, Sakane I, Takihara T, et al. Hypoglycemic effect of extracts from Lagerstroemia speciosa L. leaves in genetically diabetic KK-AY mice. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 1996;60:204-8.
  3. Fukushima, M., Matsuyama, F., Ueda, N., Egawa, K., Takemoto, J., Kajimoto, Y., Yonaha, N., Miura, T., Kaneko, T., Nishi, Y., Mitsui, R., Fujita, Y., Yamada, Y., and Seino, Y. Effect of corosolic acid on postchallenge plasma glucose levels. Diabetes Res C PubMed
  4. Yamaguchi, Y., Yamada, K., Yoshikawa, N., Nakamura, K., Haginaka, J., and Kunitomo, M. Corosolic acid prevents oxidative stress, inflammation and hypertension in SHR/NDmcr-cp rats, a model of metabolic syndrome. Life Sci 11-25-2006;79(26):2474-2479. PubMed
  5. Fuchikami H, Satoh H, Tsujimoto M, Ohdo S, Ohtani H, Sawada Y. Effects of herbal extracts on the function of human organic anion-transporting polypeptide OATP-B. Drug Metab Dispos 2006;34:577-82. PubMed
  6. Manaf A, Tjandrawinata RR, Malinda D. Insulin sensitizer in prediabetes: a clinical study with DLBS3233, a combined bioactive fraction of Cinnamomum burmanii and Lagerstroemia speciosa. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2016;10:1279-89. PubMed
  7. Tjokroprawiro A, Murtiwi S, Tjandrawinata RR. DLBS3233, a combined bioactive fraction of Cinnamomum burmanii and Lagerstroemia speciosa, in type-2 diabetes mellitus patients inadequately controlled by metformin and other oral antidiabetic agents. J Comple

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Banaba and Tocilizumab Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Banaba with Tocilizumab?
We do not list a known interaction between Banaba and Tocilizumab. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Banaba and Tocilizumab have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 3 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
How was the Banaba and Tocilizumab combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Tocilizumab is filed under 2 classifications, and Banaba has documented interactions with 3 drug classes — none of Tocilizumab's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Banaba interact with any other medications?
Yes. Banaba has 299 documented drug interactions in our database — Tocilizumab is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Tocilizumab interact with any supplements?
Yes. Tocilizumab has documented interactions with 89 supplements in our database — Banaba is not one of them. The Tocilizumab interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Banaba monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Tocilizumab Injection drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Tocilizumab supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Tocilizumab, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 7 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Tocilizumab and Banaba?

Our pharmacists answer your medication & supplement questions — free.

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.