Drug & supplement interaction

Job's Tears + Interferon Alfa-2b

Interferon Alfa-2b brand names: Rebetron, Intron A, Viraferon.

No Known Interaction

Medically reviewed by Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 20, 2026

The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Job's Tears and Interferon Alfa-2b 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.

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Interaction report

Job's Tears and Interferon Alfa-2b

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 Interferon Alfa-2b and Job's Tears 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.

Job's Tears safety at a glance

Job's Tears overall Use caution Generally safe as a cooked food, but concentrated supplement evidence is limited.

Pregnancy Avoid Traditionally avoided in pregnancy and human safety data are lacking.

Breastfeeding Use caution Not enough reliable data; use only ordinary food amounts and check with a clinician.

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

Still wondering about combining Interferon Alfa-2b and Job's Tears? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›

How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Interferon Alfa-2b

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Interferon Alfa-2b is filed under 2 classifications — photosensitizing drugs, hepatotoxic drugs. Job's Tears has documented interactions with 5 drug classes — the most serious being antidiabetes drugs (moderate), chlorzoxazone (parafon forte, paraflex) (moderate) and dextromethorphan (robitussin dm, others) (moderate) — and none of Interferon Alfa-2b’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

Job's Tears Does Interact With Other Medications

Job's Tears has 128 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Interferon Alfa-2b isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 128 No known interaction 2,702 (incl. Interferon Alfa-2b)

Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Job's Tears

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Job's Tears. Pick one to open its full report.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Interferon Alfa-2b

This page covers Job's Tears only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Interferon Alfa-2b page lists 57 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), Alfalfa (moderate) and Angelica Archangelica (moderate).

By severity: 3 major · 53 moderate · 1 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Interferon Alfa-2b page

“People taking interferon alfa-2b (Intron A, Rebetron) are usually treating hepatitis or a cancer, so the liver may already be under strain, and that is exactly where most of this list points. Of the 57 supplements on file, 38 can add to liver stress, and all three major-rated interactions sit in that group: Siberian cocklebur, which ha…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Interferon Alfa-2b interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Job's Tears as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 111 real supplement products containing Job's Tears, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Job's Tears. Even though Job's Tears itself has no known interaction with Interferon Alfa-2b, 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 Job's Tears and Interferon Alfa-2b 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 Job's Tears

Steady interest

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

29 days ago today

Medication Interferon Alfa-2b

Steady interest

#1,465 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 Job's Tears reference on this page ↓
Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Job's Tears and Interferon Alfa-2b records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 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 Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS.

Supplement

About Job's Tears

What is Job's Tears?

Digestive support
Skin health and smoothness
Mild swelling or water retention
General nourishing food/tonic
Joint discomfort (traditional use)

Job's Tears is a grain-like seed long used as a food and in traditional medicine, especially in East Asia. While it is generally safe as a food and is being studied for possible effects on metabolism, inflammation, and immunity, strong human evidence for its health claims is limited. Talk with your pharmacist or doctor before using concentrated supplements, especially during pregnancy.

Coix lacryma-jobi · Poaceae · Seeds (grain/kernel), sometimes root · Whole grain, cooked food, tea, powder, capsules, flour

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

Job's Tears: dosing

There is no established standardized dose for Job's Tears as a supplement. As a food, it is simply cooked and eaten like other whole grains.For capsules, powders, or teas, follow the directions on the product label, since strengths vary widely between products.

From our Job's Tears monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Job's Tears monograph & all interactions

Medication

About Interferon Alfa-2b Injection

What Is Interferon Alfa-2b Injection Used For?

Brand names: Rebetron, Intron A, Viraferon

Interferon alfa-2b injection is used to treat a number of conditions.
Interferon alfa-2b injection is used
- alone or in combination with ribavirin (Copegus, Rebetol, Ribasphere) to treat chronic (long-term) hepatitis C infection (swelling of the liver caused by a virus) in people who show signs of liver damage,
- to treat chronic hepatitis B infection (swelling of the liver caused by a virus) in people who show signs of liver damage,
- to treat hairy cell leukemia (a white blood cell cancer),
- to treat genital warts,
- to treat Kaposi's sarcoma (a type of cancer that causes abnormal tissue to grow on different parts of the body) related to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS),
- to treat malignant melanoma (a cancer that begins in certain skin cells) in certain people who have had surgery to remove the cancer,
- along with another medication to treat follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL; a slow-growing blood cancer).
Interferon alfa-2b is in a class of medications called immunomodulators. Interferon alfa-2b works to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) by decreasing the amount virus in the body. Interferon alfa-2b may not cure hepatitis B or hepatitis C or prevent you from developing complications from these infections such as cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver failure, or liver cancer. It also may not prevent the spread of hepatitis B or C to other people. It is not known exactly how interferon alfa-2b works to treat cancer or genital warts.

See full Interferon Alfa-2b Injection drug information

Keep checking

Other Drugs & Job's Tears

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

0Major

128Moderate

0Minor

2,701No known interaction

128 Moderate 2,701 No interaction

Moderate

128 interactions

Showing 60 of 128 moderate interactions — see all 128 on the Job's Tears page.

No interaction 2,701 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,701 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Job's Tears list.

See the full Job's Tears interactions page

See every supplement checked against Interferon Alfa-2b, ranked by severity

Evidence & sources

Job's Tears References

The 3 references that drive our Job's Tears 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.

Chiang W, Cheng C, Chiang M, Chung KT. Effects of dehulled adlay on the culture count of some microbiota and their metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract of rats. J Agric Food Chem 2000;48:829-32. PubMed
Yu YM, Chang WC, Liu CS, Tsai CM. Effect of young barley leaf extract and adlay on plasma lipids and LDL oxidation in hyperlipidemic smokers. Biol Pharm Bull 2004;27:802-5. PubMed
Yao HT, Lin JH, Liu YT, Li ML, Chiang W. Food-Drug Interaction between the Adlay Bran Oil and Drugs in Rats. Nutrients 2019;11(10):2473. PubMed

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 Job's Tears and Interferon Alfa-2b Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Job's Tears with Interferon Alfa-2b?

We do not list a known interaction between Job's Tears and Interferon Alfa-2b. 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.

How was the Job's Tears and Interferon Alfa-2b combination checked?

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Interferon Alfa-2b is filed under 2 classifications, and Job's Tears has documented interactions with 5 drug classes — none of Interferon Alfa-2b'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 Job's Tears interact with any other medications?

Yes. Job's Tears has 128 documented drug interactions in our database — Interferon Alfa-2b 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 Interferon Alfa-2b interact with any supplements?

Yes. Interferon Alfa-2b has documented interactions with 57 supplements in our database — Job's Tears is not one of them. The Interferon Alfa-2b 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

Job's Tears monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Interferon Alfa-2b Injection drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Interferon Alfa-2b supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Interferon Alfa-2b, 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 3 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Interferon Alfa-2b and Job's Tears?

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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.