Drug & supplement interaction

Selenium + Palifermin

Palifermin brand name: Kepivance.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 27, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Selenium and Palifermin 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

Selenium and Palifermin

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 Palifermin and Selenium 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.

Selenium safety at a glance

Selenium overall Use caution Safe in small recommended amounts, but excess selenium can be toxic.
Pregnancy Possibly Safe When used orally and appropriately. Selenium appears to be safe when used short-term in amounts that do not exceed the tolerable upper intake level (UL) of 400... Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Possibly Safe When used orally and appropriately. Selenium appears to be safe when used short-term in amounts that do not exceed the tolerable upper intake level (UL) of 400... Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

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

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Palifermin

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Palifermin is filed under a single classification — oral drugs. Selenium has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — the most serious being anticoagulant/antiplatelet drugs (moderate), barbiturates (moderate) and immunosuppressants (moderate) — and none of Palifermin’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

Selenium Does Interact With Other Medications

Selenium has 288 moderate, 33 minor known drug interactions in our database — Palifermin isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 288 Minor 33 No known interaction 2,509 (incl. Palifermin)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Selenium

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Selenium and Palifermin 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.

  • Joint pain Additional detail

    Selenium

    “Chronic selenium exposure of 30 mg daily for up to 24 weeks may cause arthralgia, myalgia, and muscle spasms.”

    Selenium · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in myalgia.

    1 source cited
    1. 113660. Malpas CB, Vivash L, Genc S, et al. A Phase IIa Randomized Control Trial of VEL015 (Sodium Selenate) in Mild-Moderate Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2016;54(1):223-232. PubMed

    Palifermin

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

  • A skin rash reported in 10.1% of FDA reports for Palifermin Additional detail

    Selenium

    “Excess selenium can produce selenosis in humans, affecting liver, skin, nails, and hair as well as dermatitis. Results from the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial conducted among individuals at high risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer demonstrate that selenium supplementation is ineffective at preventing basal cell carcinoma and that it increases the risk of squamous cell carcinoma and total nonmelanoma skin cancer.”

    Selenium · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in cancer.

    6 sources cited
    1. 74304. Vinceti, M., Wei, E. T., Malagoli, C., Bergomi, M., and Vivoli, G. Adverse health effects of selenium in humans. Rev.Environ.Health 2001;16(4):233-251. PubMed
    2. 74326. Abrams, C. K., Siram, S. M., Galsim, C., Johnson-Hamilton, H., Munford, F. L., and Mezghebe, H. Selenium deficiency in long-term total parenteral nutrition. Nutr Clin Pract 1992;7(4):175-178. PubMed
    3. 74397. Alexander, J. Selenium. Novartis.Found.Symp 2007;282:143-149.
    4. 74495. Srivastava, A. K., Gupta, B. N., Bihari, V., and Gaur, J. S. Generalized hair loss and selenium exposure. Vet.Hum.Toxicol. 1995;37(5):468-469.
    5. 90360. Rees K, Hartley L, Day C, et al. Selenium supplementation for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013;1:CD009671. PubMed
    6. 113660. Malpas CB, Vivash L, Genc S, et al. A Phase IIa Randomized Control Trial of VEL015 (Sodium Selenate) in Mild-Moderate Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2016;54(1):223-232. PubMed

    Palifermin

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Palifermin, and in voluntary FDA adverse-event reports. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Selenium but not commonly for Palifermin: high blood sugar, a change in thyroid levels, muscle pain and weight loss.

Effects for Palifermin come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Selenium come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 388 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Palifermin 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.

Special populations

Selenium in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy Possibly Safe

When used orally and appropriately. Selenium appears to be safe when used short-term in amounts that do not exceed the tolerable upper intake level (UL) of 400 mcg daily; however, there is concern that long-term use might not be safe.

Pregnancy Possibly Unsafe

When used orally in excessive doses. Doses above 400 mcg daily may cause significant toxicity.

Lactation Possibly Safe

When used orally and appropriately. Selenium appears to be safe when used short-term in amounts that do not exceed the tolerable upper intake level (UL) of 400 mcg daily when taken short-term; however, there is concern that long-term use might not be safe.

Lactation Possibly Unsafe

When used orally in excessive doses. Doses above 400 mcg daily may cause significant toxicity. ...when used orally in HIV-positive women. Selenium supplementation in HIV-positive women not taking highly active antiretroviral therapy may increase HIV-1 levels in breast milk.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

Overlapping uses

What Palifermin Is Prescribed For, and What Selenium Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Palifermin is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Selenium is a supplement: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Palifermin is prescribed for: Kepivance (palifermin) is used to decrease how often and how long severe oral mucositis — painful sores in the mouth and throat — occurs in patients with hematologic malignancies (blood cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia, or multiple myeloma) who are receiving high-dose, cell-damaging (myelotoxic) therapy before an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (a transplant using the patient's own stem cells). Kepivance is specifically indicated when the preparative chemotherapy or radiation regimen is expected to cause severe mucositis in most patients. It is not recommended for use with a high-dose melphalan conditioning regimen, and it was not found to be effective in the setting of allogeneic stem cell transplant (using a donor's cells). Its safety and effectiveness have not been established for patients with non-blood cancers (non-hematologic malignancies).

Selenium has been studied for:

  • Oral mucositis studied, not established Selenium has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Selenium for oral mucositis

    It is unclear if oral selenium is beneficial for reducing oral mucositis in patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Palifermin on your own; if you are taking Selenium for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

From our Q&A

Questions About Selenium or Palifermin

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Selenium or Palifermin, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Palifermin

This page covers Selenium only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Palifermin page lists 17 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Coffee Charcoal (moderate), European Mandrake (moderate), Glucomannan (moderate) and Guar Gum (moderate).

By severity: 1 major · 7 moderate · 9 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Palifermin page

“Palifermin (Kepivance) is given by IV to prevent the severe mouth sores that intensive chemotherapy can cause, most often in patients heading into a stem cell transplant, and I read its interaction list with genuine caution because of how fragile those patients already are. All 17 supplements on file act on absorption through the gut,…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Palifermin interaction page

One more smart check

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

We hold 16,942 real supplement products containing Selenium, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Selenium. Even though Selenium itself has no known interaction with Palifermin, 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 Selenium and Palifermin 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 Selenium
Top 1%

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

29 days ago today
Medication Palifermin
Top half

#886 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 Selenium reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 27, 2026. The Selenium and Palifermin 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 .
Supplement

About Selenium

What is Selenium?

  • Thyroid health support
  • Antioxidant support
  • Immune support
  • General nutrient supplementation
  • Reproductive/fertility support

Selenium is an essential trace mineral your body needs in small amounts for thyroid function, antioxidant defense, and immune health. Most people who eat a varied diet get enough, and supplements are mainly useful for those who are deficient. Because too much selenium can be toxic, stick to recommended amounts and check with your pharmacist or doctor before supplementing.

Not applicable (selenium is a mineral, not a plant) · Tablets, capsules, softgels, multivitamin/mineral products; common forms include selenomethionine, sodium selenite, and selenium-enriched yeast

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

Selenium: dosing

Selenium needs are usually measured in micrograms (mcg) per day, and recommended amounts differ by age and life stage. Most adults need only a small daily amount, which many people already get from food. Health authorities also set an upper limit for safe daily intake that should not be exceeded.Because the right amount depends on your diet, health, and whether you are actually deficient, there is no single dose that fits everyone. Follow the product label and avoid stacking multiple products that all contain selenium.

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

Read the full Selenium monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Palifermin

What Is Palifermin Used For?

Brand name: Kepivance

Kepivance (palifermin) is used to decrease how often and how long severe oral mucositis — painful sores in the mouth and throat — occurs in patients with hematologic malignancies (blood cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia, or multiple myeloma) who are receiving high-dose, cell-damaging (myelotoxic) therapy before an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (a transplant using the patient's own stem cells).

Kepivance is specifically indicated when the preparative chemotherapy or radiation regimen is expected to cause severe mucositis in most patients. It is not recommended for use with a high-dose melphalan conditioning regimen, and it was not found to be effective in the setting of allogeneic stem cell transplant (using a donor's cells). Its safety and effectiveness have not been established for patients with non-blood cancers (non-hematologic malignancies).

Most-Reported Side Effects for Palifermin

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (388 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Mucosal inflammation 56 reports
Febrile neutropenia 39 reports
Rash 39 reports
Stomatitis 34 reports
Erythema 28 reports
See full Palifermin drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Selenium

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

0Major
288Moderate
33Minor
2,508No known interaction
288 Moderate 33 Minor 2,508 No interaction
Moderate

288 interactions

Showing 60 of 288 moderate interactions — see all 288 on the Selenium page.

Minor

33 interactions

No interaction 2,508 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,508 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Selenium list.

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

Selenium References

The 36 references that drive our Selenium 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. Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000. Available at: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309069351/html/.
  2. Brown BG, Zhao XQ, Chait A, et al. Simvastatin and niacin, antioxidant vitamins, or the combination for the prevention of coronary disease. N Engl J Med 2001;345:1583-93. DOI
  3. Trafikowska U, Zachara BA, Wiacek M, et al. Selenium supply and glutathione peroxidase activity in breastfed Polish infants. Acta Paediatr 1996;85:1143-5. PubMed
  4. Duffield-Lillico AJ, Slate EH, Reid ME, et al. Selenium supplementation and secondary prevention of nonmelanoma skin cancer in a randomized trial. J Natl Cancer Inst 2003;95:1477-81.. PubMed
  5. Cheung MC, Zhao XQ, Chait A, et al. Antioxidant supplements block the response of HDL to simvastatin-niacin therapy in patients with coronary artery disease and low HDL. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2001;21:1320-6. PubMed
  6. Schiavon R, Freeman GE, Guidi GC, et al. Selenium enhances prostacyclin production by cultured endothelial cells: possible explanation for increased bleeding times in volunteers taking selenium as a dietary supplement. Thromb Res 1984;34:389-96. PubMed
  7. Davila JC, Edds GT, Osuna O, Simpson CF. Modification of the effects of aflatoxin B1 and warfarin in young pigs given selenium. Am J Vet Res 1983;44:1877-83. DOI
  8. Heese HD, Lawrence MA, Dempster WS, Pocock F. Reference concentrations of serum selenium and manganese in healthy nulliparas. S Afr Med J 1988;73:163-5.
  9. Lloyd B, Lloyd RS, Clayton BE. Effect of smoking, alcohol and other factors on the selenium status of a healthy population. J Epidemiol Commun Health 1983;37:213-7. PubMed
  10. Capel ID, Jenner M, Williams DC, et al. The effect of prolonged oral contraceptive steroid use on erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase activity. J Steroid Biochem 1981;14:729-32. PubMed
  11. Contempre B, Dumont JE, Ngo B, et al. Effect of selenium supplementation in hypothyroid subjects of an iodine and selenium deficient area: the possible danger of indiscriminate supplementation of iodine-deficient subjects with selenium. J Clin Endocrinol PubMed
  12. Hofbauer LC, Spitzweg C, Magerstadt RA, Heufelder AE. Selenium-induced thyroid dysfunction. Postgrad Med J 1997;73:103-4. PubMed
  13. Debski B, Milner JA. Dietary selenium supplementation prolongs pentobarbital induced hypnosis. J Nutr Biochem 2004;15:548-53. PubMed
  14. Ishikawa M, Sasaki M, Koiwai K, et al. Inhibition of hepatic mixed-function oxidase enzymes in mice by acute and chronic treatment with selenium. J Pharmacobiodyn 1992;15:377-85. PubMed
  15. Lippmann SM, Klein EA, Goodman PJ, et al. Effect of selenium and vitamin E on risk of prostate cancer and other cancers: the selenium and vitamin E cancer prevention trial (SELECT). JAMA 2009;301:39-51. DOI

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 Selenium and Palifermin Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Selenium with Palifermin?
We do not list a known interaction between Selenium and Palifermin. 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 Selenium and Palifermin have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 2 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.
Are Selenium and Palifermin used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Selenium in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Palifermin is being adjusted to a target.
How was the Selenium and Palifermin combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Palifermin is filed under 1 classification, and Selenium has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — none of Palifermin'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 Selenium interact with any other medications?
Yes. Selenium has 321 documented drug interactions in our database — Palifermin 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 Palifermin interact with any supplements?
Yes. Palifermin has documented interactions with 17 supplements in our database — Selenium is not one of them. The Palifermin 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

Selenium monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Palifermin drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Palifermin supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Palifermin, 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 36 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Palifermin and Selenium?

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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.