Drug & supplement interaction

Tangerine + Mercaptopurine

Mercaptopurine brand name: Purixan.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 20, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Tangerine and Mercaptopurine 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

Tangerine and Mercaptopurine

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 Mercaptopurine and Tangerine 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.

Tangerine safety at a glance

Tangerine overall Generally safe Tangerine fruit is generally safe when eaten as food.
Pregnancy Use caution The fruit is fine as food, but concentrated extracts and essential oil should be used with caution and medical advice.
Breastfeeding Use caution Eating the fruit is fine, but safety of concentrated supplements or oils is not well studied.

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

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

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Mercaptopurine

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Mercaptopurine is filed under 3 classifications — immunosuppressants, hepatotoxic drugs, oral drugs. Tangerine has documented interactions with 2 drug classes — the most serious being cytochrome p450 3a4 (cyp3a4) substrates (minor) and midazolam (versed) (minor) — and none of Mercaptopurine’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

Tangerine Does Interact With Other Medications

Tangerine has 643 minor known drug interactions in our database — Mercaptopurine isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Minor 643 No known interaction 2,187 (incl. Mercaptopurine)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Tangerine

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Tangerine and Mercaptopurine May Share a Side Effect

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.

  • A skin rash Additional detail

    Tangerine

    “Orally, very few adverse effects have been reported with the medicinal use of tangerine. However, a thorough evaluation of safety outcomes has not been conducted.

    Topically, contact dermatitis has been associated with tangerine essential oil.”

    Tangerine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.

    1 source cited
    1. 28610. Vilaplana, J. and Romaguera, C. Contact dermatitis from the essential oil of tangerine in fragrance. Contact Dermatitis 2002;46(2):108. PubMed

    “According to one case report, the essential oil of tangerine in a fragrance has been associated with contact dermatitis.”

    Tangerine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.

    1 source cited
    1. 28610. Vilaplana, J. and Romaguera, C. Contact dermatitis from the essential oil of tangerine in fragrance. Contact Dermatitis 2002;46(2):108. PubMed

    Mercaptopurine

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

Effects for Mercaptopurine come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Tangerine come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 17,242 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Mercaptopurine 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.

Overlapping uses

What Mercaptopurine Is Prescribed For, and What Tangerine Has Been Studied For

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

Mercaptopurine is prescribed for: Mercaptopurine — available as a tablet and as an oral suspension — is used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a type of blood cancer. It is given as part of a combination chemotherapy maintenance regimen, meaning it works alongside other cancer medicines to keep leukemia in remission. Both the tablet form and the oral suspension form carry this indication for adult and pediatric patients. The oral suspension is particularly useful for patients who cannot swallow tablets.

Tangerine has been studied for:

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

    Tangerine for cancer

    Observational research has found that daily intake of oranges and/or tangerines is associated with a reduced odds of developing nasopharyngeal carcinoma when compared with consuming oranges and/or tangerines less than once a week.

    1 source cited
    1. 28608. Yuan, J. M., Wang, X. L., Xiang, Y. B., Gao, Y. T., Ross, R. K., and Yu, M. C. Preserved foods in relation to risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Shanghai, China. Int J Cancer 2000;85(3):358-363. DOI

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 Mercaptopurine on your own; if you are taking Tangerine for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

From our Q&A

Questions About Tangerine or Mercaptopurine

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Tangerine or Mercaptopurine, 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 Mercaptopurine

This page covers Tangerine only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Mercaptopurine page lists 106 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

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

By severity: 4 major · 92 moderate · 10 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Mercaptopurine page

“Mercaptopurine (Purixan) works by deliberately suppressing the immune system, whether for leukemia or inflammatory bowel disease, and the supplement interactions on this page deserve genuine care rather than a quick skim. Two problems dominate.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Mercaptopurine interaction page

One more smart check

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

We hold 705 real supplement products containing Tangerine, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Tangerine. Even though Tangerine itself has no known interaction with Mercaptopurine, 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 Tangerine and Mercaptopurine 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 Tangerine
Top 25%

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

29 days ago today
Medication Mercaptopurine
Steady interest

#2,192 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 Tangerine reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Tangerine and Mercaptopurine 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 Tangerine

What is Tangerine?

  • Source of vitamin C
  • Digestive support
  • Aromatherapy and relaxation
  • Cough and phlegm (traditional)
  • Skin and flavoring uses

Tangerine is a sweet citrus fruit that is a good source of vitamin C and other nutrients, and is widely enjoyed as food. While the peel and essential oil are used in traditional medicine and aromatherapy, strong human evidence for specific health benefits beyond basic nutrition is limited. Enjoying tangerines as part of a balanced diet is generally safe for most people.

Citrus reticulata · Rutaceae · Fruit, peel, and essential oil · Fresh fruit, juice, dried peel, essential oil, capsules, extracts

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

Tangerine: dosing

There is no official or standardized medicinal dose for tangerine. As a food, you can simply enjoy it the way you would any fruit.For peel, extracts, essential oil, or capsule products, there is no established dose proven safe and effective for any condition. Essential oils are for external or aromatherapy use only unless a professional advises otherwise.

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

Read the full Tangerine monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Mercaptopurine

What Is Mercaptopurine Used For?

Brand name: Purixan

Mercaptopurine — available as a tablet and as an oral suspension — is used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a type of blood cancer. It is given as part of a combination chemotherapy maintenance regimen, meaning it works alongside other cancer medicines to keep leukemia in remission.

Both the tablet form and the oral suspension form carry this indication for adult and pediatric patients. The oral suspension is particularly useful for patients who cannot swallow tablets.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Mercaptopurine

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (17,242 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Febrile neutropenia 1,904 reports
Fever 1,187 reports
Nausea 791 reports
Vomiting 749 reports
Abdominal pain 699 reports
See full Mercaptopurine drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Tangerine

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

0Major
0Moderate
643Minor
2,186No known interaction
643 Minor 2,186 No interaction
Minor

643 interactions

Showing 60 of 643 minor interactions — see all 643 on the Tangerine page.

No interaction 2,186 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,186 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Tangerine list.

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

Tangerine References

The 3 references that drive our Tangerine 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. Yuan, J. M., Wang, X. L., Xiang, Y. B., Gao, Y. T., Ross, R. K., and Yu, M. C. Preserved foods in relation to risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Shanghai, China. Int J Cancer 2000;85(3):358-363. DOI
  2. Backman, J. T., Maenpaa, J., Belle, D. J., Wrighton, S. A., Kivisto, K. T., and Neuvonen, P. J. Lack of correlation between in vitro and in vivo studies on the effects of tangeretin and tangerine juice on midazolam hydroxylation. Clin Pharmacol Ther 2000; PubMed
  3. Vilaplana, J. and Romaguera, C. Contact dermatitis from the essential oil of tangerine in fragrance. Contact Dermatitis 2002;46(2):108. 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 Tangerine and Mercaptopurine Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Tangerine with Mercaptopurine?
We do not list a known interaction between Tangerine and Mercaptopurine. 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 Tangerine and Mercaptopurine have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to one 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 Tangerine and Mercaptopurine 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 Tangerine in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Mercaptopurine is being adjusted to a target.
How was the Tangerine and Mercaptopurine combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Mercaptopurine is filed under 3 classifications, and Tangerine has documented interactions with 2 drug classes — none of Mercaptopurine'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 Tangerine interact with any other medications?
Yes. Tangerine has 643 documented drug interactions in our database — Mercaptopurine 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 Mercaptopurine interact with any supplements?
Yes. Mercaptopurine has documented interactions with 106 supplements in our database — Tangerine is not one of them. The Mercaptopurine 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

Tangerine monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Mercaptopurine drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Mercaptopurine supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Mercaptopurine, 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 Mercaptopurine and Tangerine?

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.