Capmatinib
Capmatinib is a targeted cancer medicine (a kinase inhibitor) used to treat adults with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have a MET exon 14 skipping mutation.
🧬 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 1 clinical label set 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 →
📖 Capmatinib: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Capmatinib — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
What Capmatinib is used for
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Capmatinib is used for one type of lung cancer.
- Tabrecta is used for adults with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have a mutation causing MET exon 14 skipping, detected by an FDA-approved test.
How Capmatinib works
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Capmatinib is a kinase inhibitor (a drug that blocks enzymes that send growth signals) that targets MET. With MET exon 14 skipping, the MET protein lacks a regulatory part. This leads to too much growth signaling.
Capmatinib blocks MET and the signals that follow it. This slows the growth and survival of MET-dependent cancer cells. In lab studies, it also showed anti-tumor activity in models of human lung tumors.
How Capmatinib is taken (dosage)
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Tabrecta tablets are taken by mouth twice daily, with or without food. Swallow them whole without breaking, crushing or chewing.
- If you miss a dose or vomit, skip it and take the next dose on schedule.
- Your doctor may lower your dose or pause treatment if side effects occur.
- Follow your prescriber's directions and the label.
Capmatinib side effects in detail
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The most common side effects (in at least 20% of people) are:
- Swelling (edema)
- Nausea
- Muscle and joint pain
- Fatigue
- Vomiting
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Decreased appetite
Serious problems include lung inflammation, liver problems, pancreas problems and allergic reactions. Contact your doctor promptly if you notice symptoms of these.
Capmatinib warnings and precautions
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- Lung disease (ILD/pneumonitis): It can be fatal. Report new or worsening cough, fever or shortness of breath. Treatment is stopped permanently if it is confirmed.
- Liver problems: Blood tests are done before starting, every 2 weeks for 3 months, then monthly or as needed.
- Pancreas problems: Amylase and lipase levels are monitored. Pancreatitis was rare.
- Allergic reactions: Signs include fever, chills, itching, rash, low blood pressure, nausea and vomiting.
- Sun sensitivity: Limit direct ultraviolet exposure. Use sunscreen or protective clothing.
- Pregnancy: It can cause fetal harm.
Capmatinib interactions: what it interacts with
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Several medicines can change capmatinib levels, or have their own levels changed by it.
- Strong and moderate CYP3A inducers (such as rifampin, efavirenz): They lower capmatinib levels and may weaken its effect. Avoid them.
- Strong CYP3A inhibitors (such as itraconazole): They raise capmatinib levels and may increase side effects. Your doctor will monitor you.
- CYP1A2 substrates (such as caffeine): Capmatinib raises their levels.
- P-gp substrates (such as digoxin) and BCRP substrates (such as rosuvastatin): Capmatinib raises their levels.
- MATE1/MATE2K substrates: Capmatinib may raise their levels.
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
Before taking Capmatinib
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- Your tumor must have a MET exon 14 skipping mutation.
- Pregnancy status should be verified before starting. Use effective contraception during treatment and for 1 week after the last dose (applies to women and to men with female partners who could become pregnant).
- Do not breastfeed during treatment and for 1 week after the last dose.
- Safety and effectiveness in children have not been established.
- Older adults had no overall differences in safety or effectiveness.
- No dose change is recommended for mild or moderate kidney impairment. It has not been studied in severe kidney impairment.
- The label lists no contraindications.
Pharmacodynamics: what Capmatinib does in the body
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The relationship between capmatinib exposure and its effects is unknown. At the recommended dose, no large average increase in QTc (a heart rhythm measurement) was found.
Pharmacokinetics: how your body processes Capmatinib
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After a dose, capmatinib reaches peak blood levels in about 1 to 2 hours. More than 70% is absorbed. Steady levels are reached by about day 3 of twice-daily dosing.
Food has no meaningful effect on exposure in cancer patients. The half-life is about 6.5 hours. It is mainly broken down by CYP3A4 and aldehyde oxidase, and is cleared mostly in feces, with some in urine.
How to store Capmatinib
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Dispense in the original package with the desiccant cartridge. Store at 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F), excursions permitted between 15°C and 30°C (59°F and 86°F) . Protect from moisture.
📄 Written from Capmatinib’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 →
Supplements & herbs that interact with Capmatinib
184 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Capmatinib in the licensed clinical database we use. Most are manageable — but your pharmacist should know about everything you take, including vitamins and herbals.
- Major · 6
- Moderate · 139
- Minor · 39
Educational information from a licensed clinical database (Natural Medicines) — see our data sources & update cadence. Not medical advice: an interaction being documented does not mean it will happen to you; do not start or stop medications or supplements without professional guidance.
🩺 Capmatinib: pharmacist answers to common questions
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Capmatinib — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What is capmatinib for?
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How do I take it?
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What side effects should I expect?
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When should I call my doctor right away?
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Do I need to worry about the sun?
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Can I take it if I might become pregnant or am breastfeeding?
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Is Capmatinib available over the counter?
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When was Capmatinib first available?
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Who makes Capmatinib?
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💬 Answers drafted from Capmatinib’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 →
🧰 More about Capmatinib on HelloPharmacist
💊 Capmatinib forms and strengths (how it comes)
Capmatinib 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.
Tablet
How this form is used
- Tabrecta is used for adults with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have a MET exon 14 skipping mutation, found by an FDA-approved test.
- Tabrecta is taken by mouth twice daily, with or without food.
- Swallow Tabrecta tablets whole. Do not break, crush or chew them.
- If you miss or vomit a Tabrecta dose, do not make it up. Take the next dose at the scheduled time.
📊 Capmatinib on the U.S. market: products, makers and brands
How Capmatinib 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.
Also listed with the FDA, not a patient dose form: Powder (2) — bulk drug substance sold to compounders/manufacturers and multi-item kits. These aren’t counted in the dose-form total above.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Capmatinib is used (Medicaid data)
A general measure of how commonly Capmatinib 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 Capmatinib 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 Capmatinib prescribed? Of the 1,599 medications we measure, Capmatinib ranks #1,524 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 5% of them.
Utilization by Capmatinib 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.
capmatinib 200 MG Oral Tablet
Summed across the 1 of 3 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2362242
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 Capmatinib, 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 1 of 3 listed Capmatinib NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Capmatinib products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Capmatinib — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Tablet | ||||
| 150 mg | Oral | Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 200 mg | Oral | Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 150 mg | — | Novartis Pharma Produktions GmbH | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 200 mg | — | Novartis Pharma Produktions GmbH | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 💊Bulk drug substance | ||||
| 1 kg/kg | — | Lianhe Chemical Technology Co.,Ltd. | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
| 90 kg/90 kg | — | Sterling Pharma Solutions Limited | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
Showing 10 of 10 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 10 Capmatinib NDCs →
📈 Capmatinib side effects reported to the 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 Capmatinib — 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 Capmatinib 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.
🏛️ Capmatinib FDA approval history
How Capmatinib went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Capmatinib 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 2362165 1 dose form · 2 strengths
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Dose form (SCDF) Oral Tablet RxCUI 2362233In current FDA listings
Look up RxCUI 2362165 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.
📦 Capmatinib supply and shortage status
Whether Capmatinib 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.
🏷️ Capmatinib brand names
🏭 Who makes Capmatinib: manufacturers and labelers
Capmatinib drug class (RxNorm)
Capmatinib belongs to the Kinase Inhibitor 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.
🔬 Sources for this Capmatinib page
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 1 FDA-filed SPL label set 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.
For canonical ingredient pages, bounded product-attributed indication and administration excerpts may be added to the AI evidence, and the generator is instructed to preserve available product, brand, route, and form qualifiers instead of treating one label as universal. 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. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation 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.