Grapefruit - Temazepam Interaction

Interaction Details

Temazepam is classified as belonging to the following category: Cytochrome P450 3A4 (Cyp3A4) Substrates

Grapefruit juice can increase levels of drugs metabolized by CYP3A4.
Clinical research shows that grapefruit juice can inhibit CYP3A4 metabolism of drugs, causing increased drug levels and potentially increasing the risk of adverse effects. When taken orally, effects of grapefruit juice on CYP3A4 levels appear to last at least 48 hours. Grapefruit's ability to inhibit CYP3A4 has even been harnessed to intentionally increase levels of venetoclax, which is metabolized by CYP3A4, in an elderly patient with acute myeloid leukemia who could not afford full dose venetoclax. The lower dose of venetoclax in combination with grapefruit juice resulted in serum levels of venetoclax in the therapeutic reference range of full dose venetoclax and positive treatment outcomes for the patient.
Professional consensus recommends the consideration of patient age, existing medical conditions, additional medications, and the potential for additive adverse effects when evaluating the risks of concomitant use of grapefruit juice with any medication metabolized by CYP3A4. While all patients are at risk for interactions with grapefruit juice consumption, patients older than 70 years of age and those taking multiple medications are at the greatest risk for a serious or fatal interaction with grapefruit juice.

Interaction Rating

Likelihood of Occurrence

Well-controlled human studies have demonstrated the likely existence of this interaction

References

• Lilja JJ, Kivisto KT, Neuvonen PJ. Grapefruit juice increases serum concentrations of atorvastatin and has no effect on pravastatin. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1999;66:118-27.
• Lilja JJ, Kivisto KT, Neuvonen PJ. Grapefruit juice-simvastatin interaction: effect on serum concentrations of simvastatin, simvastatin acid, and HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1998;64:477-83.
• Jetter A, Kinzig-Schippers M, Walchner-Bonjean M, et al. Effects of grapefruit juice on the pharmacokinetics of sildenafil. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2002;71:21-9.
• Fuhr U, Muller-Peltzer H, Kern R, et al. Effects of grapefruit juice and smoking on verapamil concentrations in steady state. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2002;58:45-53.
• Kanazawa S, Ohkubo T, Sugawara K. The effects of grapefruit juice on the pharmacokinetics of erythromycin. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2001;56:799-803.
• Charbit, B., Becquemont, L., Lepere, B., Peytavin, G., and Funck-Brentano, C. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interaction between grapefruit juice and halofantrine. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2002;72(5):514-523.
• Tanaka S, Uchida S, Miyakawa S, Inui N, Takeuchi K, Watanabe H, Namiki N. Comparison of inhibitory duration of grapefruit juice on organic anion-transporting polypeptide and cytochrome P450 3A4. Biol Pharm Bull. 2013;36(12):1936-41.
• Bailey DG. Predicting clinical relevance of grapefruit-drug interactions: a complicated process. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2017 Apr;42(2):125-27.
• Mouly S, Lloret-Linares C, Sellire PO, Sene D, Bergmann JF. Is the clinical relevance of drug-food and drug-herb interactions limited to grapefruit juice and Saint-John's Wort? Pharmacol Res. 2017 Apr;118:82-92.
• Loretz C, Ho MD, Alam N, Mitchell W, Li AP. Application of cryopreserved human intestinal mucosa and cryopreserved human enterocytes in the evaluation of herb-drug interactions: evaluation of CYP3A inhibitory potential of grapefruit juice and commercial f
• Long Z, Ruan M, Wu W, Zeng Q, Li Q, Huang Z. The successful combination of grapefruit juice and venetoclax in an unfit acute myeloid leukemia patient with adverse risk: A case report. Front Oncol 2022;12:912696.

Interaction Details

Temazepam is classified as belonging to the following category: Benzodiazepines

Grapefruit juice might increase blood levels of some oral benzodiazepines, potentially increasing the effects and adverse effects of these drugs.
Clinical research shows that grapefruit juice can increase plasma triazolam concentrations. Repeated consumption of grapefruit juice greatly increases triazolam concentrations and prolongs the half-life, probably due to inhibition of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4). Some studies show that grapefruit juice, particularly when taken in large quantities, reduces the clearance and increases the maximum blood levels, area under the plasma concentration curve (AUC), and duration of effect of midazolam. However, there is no effect on intravenous midazolam. Grapefruit juice has also been shown to increase the maximum blood levels and duration of effect of diazepam, but the clinical significance of this is not known. This interaction does not appear to occur with alprazolam.

Interaction Rating

Likelihood of Occurrence

Well-controlled human studies have demonstrated the likely existence of this interaction

References

• Ozdemir M, Aktan Y, Boydag BS. Interaction between grapefruit juice and diazepam in humans. Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet 1998;23:55-9.
• Fuhr U. Drug Interactions with Grapefruit Juice. Drug Saf 1998;18:251-72.
• Lilja JJ, Kivisto KT, Backman JT, Neuvonen PJ. Effect of grapefruit juice dose on grapefruit juice-triazolam interaction: repeated consumption prolongs triazolam half-life. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2000;56:411-5.
• Greenblatt DJ, von Moltke LL, Harmatz JS. Time course of recovery of cytochrome P450 3A function after single doses of grapefruit juice. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2003;74:121-29 .
• Veronese ML, Gillen LP, Burke JP, et al. Exposure-dependent inhibition of intestinal and hepatic CYP3A4 in vivo by grapefruit juice. J Clin Pharmacol 2003;43:831-9. .
• Farkas D, Oleson LE, Zhao Y, et al. Pomegranate juice does not impair clearance of oral or intravenous midazolam, a probe for cytochrome P450-3A activity: comparison with grapefruit juice. J Clin Pharmacol 2007;47:286-94.
• Potential drug interactions with grapefruit. Pharmacist's Letter / Prescriber's Letter 2007;23(2):230204.
• Yasui N, Kondo T, Furukori H, et al. Effects of repeated ingestion of grapefruit juice on the single and multiple oral-dose pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of alprazolam. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2000;150:185-90.
• Andersen, V., Pedersen, N., Larsen, N. E., Sonne, J., and Larsen, S. Intestinal first pass metabolism of midazolam in liver cirrhosis --effect of grapefruit juice. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2002;54(2):120-124.
• Hukkinen, S. K., Varhe, A., Olkkola, K. T., and Neuvonen, P. J. Plasma concentrations of triazolam are increased by concomitant ingestion of grapefruit juice. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1995;58(2):127-131.
• Kupferschmidt, H. H., Ha, H. R., Ziegler, W. H., Meier, P. J., and Krahenbuhl, S. Interaction between grapefruit juice and midazolam in humans. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1995;58(1):20-28.
• Culm-Merdek, K. E., von Moltke, L. L., Gan, L., Horan, K. A., Reynolds, R., Harmatz, J. S., Court MH, and Greenblatt, D. J. Effect of extended exposure to grapefruit juice on cytochrome P450 3A activity in humans: comparison with ritonavir. Clin Pharmacol
• Sugimoto, K., Araki, N., Ohmori, M., Harada, K., Cui, Y., Tsuruoka, S., Kawaguchi, A., and Fujimura, A. Interaction between grapefruit juice and hypnotic drugs: comparison of triazolam and quazepam. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2006;62(3):209-215.
• Tanaka S, Uchida S, Miyakawa S, Inui N, Takeuchi K, Watanabe H, Namiki N. Comparison of inhibitory duration of grapefruit juice on organic anion-transporting polypeptide and cytochrome P450 3A4. Biol Pharm Bull. 2013;36(12):1936-41.
• Kawaguchi-Suzuki M, Nasiri-Kenari N, Shuster J, et al. Effect of low-furanocoumarin hybrid grapefruit juice consumption on midazolam pharmacokinetics. J Clin Pharmacol. 2017 Mar;57(3):305-11.

Temazepam Overview

• Temazepam is used on a short-term basis to treat insomnia (difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep). Temazepam is in a class of medications called benzodiazepines. It works by slowing activity in the brain to allow sleep.

Grapefruit - More Interactions

Grapefruit interacts with 963 drugs

Interaction Rating Key

These severity listings are for informational use only. Never start, stop or otherwise change your therapy before speaking with your provider.