Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray
Calcitonin salmon nasal spray is a hormone-based medication used to treat postmenopausal osteoporosis in women who cannot use other osteoporosis therapies.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 2 clinical label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
📖 Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
🎯What it's used for▾
Calcitonin salmon nasal spray has one FDA-approved use:
- Postmenopausal osteoporosis: CALCITONIN SALMON nasal spray is approved for women who are more than 5 years past menopause and for whom other osteoporosis treatments are not suitable (for example, women who cannot tolerate or who are unwilling to use other therapies). It is considered a second-line option.
- It has not been shown to reduce fractures.
- It has not been shown to increase spinal bone density in women in the early years after menopause.
- Because of a possible link to increased cancer risk, the need for continued therapy should be reviewed regularly by your doctor.
⚙️How it works▾
Calcitonin salmon is a synthetic version of calcitonin, a hormone that acts primarily on bone. It binds to calcitonin receptors on osteoclasts (the cells that break down bone), reducing their activity and slowing the rate of bone loss. It has a greater potency and longer duration of action than natural mammalian calcitonins. It also has some effects on the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract, though these are not central to its use in osteoporosis.
💊How it's taken▾
Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray is taken as one spray into one nostril once a day, alternating nostrils daily. Before the very first use, let the bottle reach room temperature and prime the pump until a full spray is released — you do not need to re-prime it before any dose after that. Always hold your head upright when using the spray.
- Take it alongside adequate calcium (at least 1000 mg elemental calcium daily) and vitamin D (at least 400 International Units daily) as your doctor advises.
- Unopened bottles should be stored in the refrigerator; bring to room temperature before first use.
- Always follow your prescriber's specific instructions and the directions on the label.
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
The most common side effects with calcitonin salmon nasal spray affect the nose and include:
- Rhinitis (nasal irritation, runny nose)
- Nosebleeds (epistaxis)
- Nasal symptoms: crusting, dryness, soreness, itching, redness
- Back pain
- Joint pain (arthralgia)
- Headache
- Sinusitis
- Influenza-like symptoms, rash, nausea, dizziness
Serious reactions to watch for include severe allergic reactions (trouble breathing, throat swelling, anaphylaxis), signs of low blood calcium (muscle cramps, twitching, seizures), and severe nasal ulcers — all of which require prompt medical attention.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Possible increased cancer risk: A review of 21 clinical trials found a higher rate of malignancies in patients treated with calcitonin salmon compared with placebo. A direct cause has not been confirmed, but your doctor should regularly reassess whether you should continue this medication.
- Severe allergic reactions: Anaphylaxis and anaphylactic shock have been reported — get emergency help immediately if you have trouble breathing or throat swelling.
- Low blood calcium (hypocalcemia): Can cause muscle cramps, twitching, and seizures. Low calcium must be corrected before starting this medication.
- Nasal damage: Nasal ulcers and other nasal changes can develop. Periodic nasal exams are recommended; the medication should be stopped if severe ulceration occurs.
- Antibody formation: About 69% of patients in one study developed antibodies to calcitonin salmon over 2 years. This can cause the medication to stop working over time.
🔀What it interacts with▾
Few formal drug interaction studies have been done with calcitonin salmon nasal spray, but one important interaction is known:
- Lithium: Calcitonin salmon may speed up the removal of lithium through the kidneys, lowering lithium levels in your blood. If you take lithium, your doctor may need to adjust your dose.
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
📋Before taking it▾
- Allergy: Do not use if you have had a serious allergic reaction to calcitonin salmon or any component of the spray.
- Low blood calcium (hypocalcemia): This must be fully treated before you start this medication.
- Mineral or vitamin deficiencies: Conditions like vitamin D deficiency should be treated before or during use.
- Older adults: Nasal side effects (irritation, nosebleeds) are more common in people over 65, especially those over 75.
- Children: Safety and effectiveness have not been established in pediatric patients.
- Pregnancy: Not indicated for use during pregnancy. Animal studies showed reduced fetal birth weights at high doses.
- Breastfeeding: Not indicated during breastfeeding; calcitonin has been shown to inhibit milk production in animals.
- Lithium users: Tell your doctor, as your lithium dose may need monitoring or adjustment.
🚑If you take too much▾
Taking too much calcitonin salmon nasal spray could cause dangerously low blood calcium (hypocalcemia), which may lead to muscle cramping or tetany (severe, painful muscle contractions). If an overdose is suspected, calcium should be available for treatment. Studies have examined single doses and short courses at higher-than-recommended amounts without serious adverse effects, but any suspected overdose should be treated as a medical situation.
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
Calcitonin salmon slows the breakdown of bone by reducing the number and activity of osteoclasts (bone-dissolving cells), leading to a persistent decrease in the rate of bone resorption with ongoing use. It also causes a mild reduction in blood calcium levels, keeping them within the normal range in healthy adults. In people with more rapid bone turnover, blood calcium reductions can be more pronounced. Doses above a certain threshold do not produce additional biological response.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
When sprayed into the nose, calcitonin salmon is absorbed quickly through the nasal lining, reaching peak blood levels in about 13 minutes. Its bioavailability by the nasal route is only about 3–5% compared to an injected dose, meaning most of the drug does not reach the bloodstream. The drug is cleared from the body rapidly, with a half-life (the time it takes for half the drug to leave the body) of around 18 minutes, and it does not accumulate with repeated daily use.
📦How to store it▾
Store unopened bottle in refrigerator between 2°C to 8°C (36°F to 46°F). Protect from freezing. Store bottle in use at room temperature between 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F) in an upright position, for up to 30 days (2 mL fill) or 35 days (3.
📄 Written from Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Every point is grounded in that labeling — nothing is invented. How we use AI →
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
Why is my doctor prescribing this instead of other osteoporosis medications? ▾
How do I use the nasal spray correctly? ▾
What side effects should I expect, and which ones should I call about right away? ▾
I heard there might be a cancer risk. Should I be worried? ▾
Do I need to take calcium and vitamin D too? ▾
What happens if the spray stops working over time? ▾
Is Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray available over the counter? ▾
When was Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray first available? ▾
Who makes Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Grounded in that labeling — nothing is made up. How we use AI →
🧰 Keep exploring
💊 How Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray comes
Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Nasal spray
How this form is used
- CALCITONIN SALMON nasal spray is used to treat postmenopausal osteoporosis in women more than 5 years past menopause when alternative treatments are not suitable
- CALCITONIN SALMON nasal spray has not been shown to reduce fracture risk or to increase spinal bone density in early postmenopausal women
- CALCITONIN SALMON nasal spray is used as one spray into one nostril once daily, alternating nostrils each day
- Before the very first use, allow CALCITONIN SALMON nasal spray to reach room temperature, then prime the pump until a full spray is released — do not re-prime before subsequent daily doses
- Hold your head upright when administering CALCITONIN SALMON nasal spray
- Use CALCITONIN SALMON nasal spray alongside adequate calcium (at least 1000 mg elemental calcium per day) and vitamin D (at least 400 International Units per day) as directed
📊 Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray across the U.S. market
How Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray is used
A general measure of how commonly Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray prescribed? Of the 1,596 medications we measure, Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray ranks #1,020 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 36% of them.
Utilization by Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
salmon calcitonin 200 UNT/ACTUAT Nasal Spray
Summed across the 2 of 4 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 313919
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 2 of 4 listed Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Nasal spray | ||||
| 200 [IU] | Nasal | Apotex Corp. × 3 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 200 [IU] | Nasal | Bryant Ranch Prepack | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 200 [IU]/0.09 mL | Nasal | Endo USA, Inc. | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 200 [IU]/0.09 mL | Nasal | Par Health USA, LLC | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 200 [IU]/0.09 mL | Nasal | Par Pharmaceutical, Inc. | ANDA | View NDC → |
Showing 7 of 7 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 7 Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray NDCs →
📈 What people report — real-world data (FDA FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
🏛️ The road to your pharmacy
How Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
Source: openFDA drug enforcement (recall) reports.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 36118 2 dose forms · 4 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Injectable Solution RxCUI 371188No current FDA listingClinical drug / strength (SCD) 50 UNT/MLRxCUI 248087100 UNT/MLRxCUI 248088200 UNT/MLRxCUI 308866 -
Dose form (SCDF) Nasal Spray RxCUI 374899In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 200 UNT/ACTUATRxCUI 313919
Look up RxCUI 36118 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
📦 Supply & shortage status
Whether Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
🏷️ Sold under these brand names
🏭 Manufacturers & labelers
RxNorm drug class
Calcitonin Salmon Nasal Spray belongs to the Calcitonin class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 Where this comes from
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How we combine label and product data
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 2 FDA-filed SPL label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. The representative label is the starting point for the displayed reference monograph; the 12 largest stored in-scope SPL records, which may include that representative, are compared section by section, and the longest available version of each section is retained. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, product-listed strengths, and product-record counts are aggregated separately from ingredient-matched FDA NDC Directory records; package records listed above are associated with the linked SPL; and the normalized concept hierarchy comes from NLM RxNorm.
Where a section is identified as AI-written, its plain-language text is generated from bounded label evidence. New draft drug pages remain in the admin review queue before first publication. Par Pharmaceutical, Inc. is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates; it is not the sole source used for the page.
This is general education, not medical advice — always consult your doctor or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition. For the exact wording of the linked representative label, view that label on DailyMed; some displayed composite sections may come from other in-scope SPL labels. Learn how we use AI and our data sources & update cadence.