FDA-filed SPL labeling · retrieved through openFDA

Caspofungin Injection

Caspofungin injection is an antifungal medicine used to treat serious Candida and Aspergillus fungal infections, and to provide protective antifungal therapy in patients with fever and low white blood cell counts.

Brand name Cancidas
Drug classes ⓘ Echinocandin Antifungal
Rx Form 1 Route Intravenous
Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS
Reviewed by Last reviewed Jul 10, 2026
🧬 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 7 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 →

At a glance
Linked label effectiveJan 8, 2026
Clinical labels in scope ⓘ7
AvailabilityRx
Earliest approval/marketing year ⓘ2001
FDA-listed product records ⓘ35
Boxed warningNone found in compared labels
How we combine label and product data →
✓No current FDA shortage listed · checked Sep 21, 2026
⭐ Caspofungin Injection at a glance The quick version — the full detail is in the Patient Information Guide below.
💊
HelloPharmacist Editorial Team Bottom Line
Caspofungin injection is a hospital-administered antifungal used to treat serious Candida and Aspergillus infections, as well as to protect patients with fever and very low white blood cell counts who may have a fungal infection. It is given once daily through an IV over about an hour by a healthcare professional. The most important things to watch for are allergic reactions during or after the infusion and any signs of liver problems — your care team will monitor you throughout treatment.
How we write & review this content — our editorial policy →

📖 Caspofungin Injection: Patient Information Guide

A plain-language walkthrough of Caspofungin Injection — 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▾

Caspofungin injection is an echinocandin antifungal approved for adults and children 3 months of age and older for the following uses:

  • Empirical therapy — started right away in patients with fever and very low white blood cell counts (febrile neutropenia) when a fungal infection is suspected.
  • Treatment of candidemia (Candida fungus in the bloodstream) and related Candida infections including intra-abdominal abscesses, peritonitis (infection around the abdominal organs), and pleural space infections (infection around the lungs).
  • Treatment of esophageal candidiasis (Candida infection of the esophagus, or swallowing tube).
  • Treatment of invasive aspergillosis in patients who have not responded to, or cannot tolerate, other antifungal treatments — it is not approved as the first treatment tried for this infection.
  • Not approved for oropharyngeal candidiasis (thrush in the mouth/throat), or for Candida infections involving the heart valves (endocarditis), bones (osteomyelitis), or brain/spine (meningitis).
⚙️How it works▾

Caspofungin belongs to a drug class called echinocandins. It works by blocking an enzyme that fungi need to build their cell walls — specifically, it inhibits the production of beta-1,3-D-glucan, a key structural component. Without an intact cell wall, the fungus cannot maintain its shape or survive. Because human cells don't have this type of cell wall, caspofungin targets the fungus directly while leaving human cells largely unaffected.

💊How it's taken▾

Caspofungin is given exclusively as a slow intravenous (IV) infusion over about 1 hour — always in a clinical setting by a healthcare professional. It is dosed once daily. For most uses, a higher loading dose is given on the first day to quickly build up effective drug levels, followed by a lower daily maintenance dose for the remainder of treatment. Dosing in children is based on body surface area. Treatment length varies by the type of infection and clinical response — your care team will determine how long you need it.

  • Do not administer as a rapid IV bolus (fast injection directly into the vein).
  • Do not mix caspofungin with other medications in the same IV bag or line.
  • Do not prepare using IV fluids that contain dextrose.
🤒Side effects — in detail▾

The most common side effects reported with caspofungin include:

  • Fever (pyrexia)
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Elevated liver enzymes (seen on blood tests, not always felt)
  • Low blood potassium levels (hypokalemia)
  • Chills
  • Rash
  • Low blood pressure (hypotension)
  • Headache

More serious reactions — including severe allergic responses, dangerous skin reactions, and liver problems — can occur. Tell your care team immediately if you notice any sudden worsening of symptoms during or after your infusion, or any signs of skin or liver problems.

⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
  • Serious allergic reactions: Anaphylaxis and other hypersensitivity reactions have occurred with caspofungin. Symptoms can include rash, facial swelling, throat tightening, difficulty breathing, or sensation of warmth. Rare, life-threatening skin reactions — Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis — have also been reported. If any of these occur, the infusion must be stopped and emergency treatment given immediately.
  • Liver effects: Caspofungin can cause abnormal liver enzyme levels. In some seriously ill patients taking multiple medications, more significant liver problems including hepatitis and liver failure have been reported. Liver function is monitored during treatment.
  • Caspofungin plus cyclosporine: Using these two drugs together raises the risk of elevated liver enzymes. This combination should only be used when the benefit clearly outweighs the risk, and liver tests must be monitored closely.
🔀What it interacts with▾

Caspofungin can interact with several medications that may change how well it works or increase the risk of side effects:

  • Cyclosporine: Increases caspofungin levels in the blood; together they can raise the risk of liver enzyme elevations — use with caution and monitor liver tests.
  • Tacrolimus: Caspofungin may lower tacrolimus blood levels; tacrolimus concentrations will need to be monitored and the dose adjusted if needed.
  • Rifampin: A potent inducer of liver enzymes that can significantly lower caspofungin levels in the blood, potentially making it less effective — a higher caspofungin dose is typically used.
  • Efavirenz, nevirapine, phenytoin, dexamethasone, carbamazepine: These medications can also lower caspofungin levels; your doctor may consider increasing the caspofungin dose when these are used together.

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▾
  • Do not use caspofungin if you have had a previous allergic reaction (including anaphylaxis) to caspofungin or any ingredient in the product.
  • Tell your doctor if you have liver disease — adults with moderate liver impairment need a lower daily dose; there is no established safe dose for adults with severe liver disease or for children with any degree of liver impairment.
  • No dose adjustment is needed for kidney problems, even in patients on dialysis, as caspofungin is not removed by dialysis.
  • If you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, discuss the risks with your doctor — animal studies showed harm to developing fetuses.
  • If you are breastfeeding, talk to your doctor — it is not known whether caspofungin passes into human breast milk.
  • Caspofungin is not established as safe or effective in infants under 3 months old.
  • Older adults may have slightly higher caspofungin levels; no routine dose change is needed, but close monitoring is appropriate.
  • Tell your doctor about all medications you take, especially cyclosporine, tacrolimus, rifampin, anti-seizure medications, or HIV medications — these can interact with caspofungin.
🚑If you take too much▾

In clinical studies, healthy volunteers who received a single very high dose reported no significant problems. Caspofungin cannot be removed from the body by dialysis, so supportive care is the approach if too much is given. In one reported case, a teenage patient who accidentally received a higher-than-intended dose for several days had no clinically significant adverse effects.

🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾

After a 1-hour IV infusion, caspofungin is rapidly distributed throughout the body's tissues — about 92% of a dose reaches tissues within 36–48 hours. It binds very strongly to a blood protein called albumin (about 97%), meaning very little floats freely in the bloodstream. The drug is broken down slowly by the liver through processes called hydrolysis and N-acetylation, and it is eliminated partly in the urine (about 41%) and partly in the feces (about 35%) over many days.

Caspofungin has multiple elimination phases — an initial half-life of 9–11 hours followed by a longer phase of 40–50 hours, meaning it stays in the body for an extended period. It is not removed by hemodialysis. In patients with moderate liver impairment, drug levels are meaningfully higher, which is why a dose reduction is recommended for those patients. Kidney impairment, even severe kidney disease or dialysis dependence, does not significantly affect drug levels with regular daily dosing, so no dose change is needed.

📦How to store it▾

stored at 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F) . stored at ≤ 25°C (≤ 77°F) for one hour prior to the preparation of the patient infusion solution. stored at ≤ 25°C (≤ 77°F) for 24 hours or at 2° to 8°C (36° to 46°F) for 48 hours.

📄 Written from Caspofungin Injection’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 →

3

Supplements & herbs that interact with Caspofungin Injection

3 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Caspofungin Injection in the licensed clinical database we use. Most are manageable — but your pharmacist should know about everything you take, including vitamins and herbals.

BREWER'S YEAST Minor PROBIOTICS Minor SACCHAROMYCES BOULARDII Minor
Every supplement checked against Caspofungin Injection — ranked by severity The full interaction hub: 3 minor · every one linked to its full report. Check Caspofungin Injection against your exact supplements

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.

🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Caspofungin Injection — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.

What is caspofungin actually treating — what kind of infection do I have? ▾
Caspofungin targets serious fungal infections, not bacterial or viral ones. Most commonly it's used for Candida infections — these can be in the bloodstream, inside the abdomen, or in the esophagus (swallowing tube). It's also used for a serious lung infection called invasive aspergillosis when other antifungal treatments haven't worked. In some cases it's started right away as a precaution in patients with very low immune defenses and a fever, even before a specific fungus has been confirmed.
Why does this have to be given through an IV? Can I take it as a pill at home? ▾
Caspofungin is only available as an IV infusion — there's no oral (pill or liquid) form. It has to be given slowly over about an hour into a vein, always in a clinical setting by a healthcare professional. The infusion is given once a day, and your care team will determine how many days you need it based on how well the infection is responding.
What side effects should I actually watch out for? ▾
Fever, chills, diarrhea, nausea, and rash are among the most commonly reported side effects. Low blood potassium and elevated liver enzymes are also seen and will be checked through blood tests during your treatment. The more serious things to watch for are signs of an allergic reaction — like sudden swelling of the face, throat tightening, or difficulty breathing — and signs of liver problems like yellowing of the skin or eyes. Let your care team know right away if anything like that happens.
I'm also taking cyclosporine — is that going to be a problem? ▾
That's an important thing to flag with your doctor. Taking cyclosporine alongside caspofungin can raise the risk of elevated liver enzymes, which means your liver will need to be monitored more carefully. Your care team will weigh the benefits and risks and watch your liver function tests closely if both drugs are needed at the same time.
I'm pregnant — is it safe to receive this treatment? ▾
This is something to discuss honestly with your doctor. Animal studies have shown that caspofungin can harm developing fetuses, so there is a potential risk. There isn't enough human data to say for certain how much risk exists for a pregnant person. Your doctor will weigh how serious your fungal infection is against the potential risks to the pregnancy, and together you can make the best decision for your situation.
How long will I need to be on this medication? ▾
The length of treatment really depends on the type of infection and how well you're responding. For example, bloodstream Candida infections are typically treated for at least 14 days after the last positive culture result. Esophageal candidiasis is usually treated for 7 to 14 days after symptoms clear. Your care team will monitor you throughout and let you know when it's safe to stop — it's important not to stop early without medical guidance.
Is Caspofungin Injection available over the counter? ▾
Caspofungin Injection is dispensed by prescription according to its FDA labeling, so it isn't sold over the counter. Your prescriber and pharmacist will determine if it's appropriate for you.
When was Caspofungin Injection first available? ▾
Caspofungin Injection has been available in the United States since at least 2001, based on FDA approval history (Drugs@FDA) and product marketing records.
Who makes Caspofungin Injection? ▾
Caspofungin Injection is supplied by 12 manufacturers listed in the FDA NDC Directory, including Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Almaject, Inc., Fosun Pharma USA Inc..

💬 Answers drafted from Caspofungin Injection’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

📊Caspofungin Injection supplement interactions3 checked — ranked by severity 🌿Drug & Supplement CheckerCaspofungin Injection vs. vitamins & herbs 💬Ask a PharmacistFree answer, usually < 24h 🔎NDC & pricing lookupFind Caspofungin Injection NDCs & costs 🅰️Browse Drugs A–ZLook up any medication

💊 How Caspofungin Injection comes

Caspofungin Injection 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.

Injection

By injection · Into a vein
Brands Cancidas
How this form is used
What it may be used for
  • Used to treat candidemia (Candida in the bloodstream) and Candida infections including intra-abdominal abscesses, peritonitis, and pleural space infections in adults and children 3 months and older.
  • Used to treat esophageal candidiasis (Candida infection of the swallowing tube) in adults and children 3 months and older.
  • Used to treat invasive aspergillosis in adults and children 3 months and older who have not responded to or cannot tolerate other antifungal therapies.
  • Used as empirical (early protective) antifungal therapy in adults and children 3 months and older who have fever and very low white blood cell counts.
Important instructions
  • Administered by slow intravenous (IV) infusion over approximately 1 hour — never given as a rapid IV bolus injection.
  • Must not be mixed or infused at the same time as other medications in the same IV line.
  • Do not use IV solutions that contain dextrose (a type of sugar) to prepare the infusion.
  • Given once daily; the length of treatment is determined by the type of infection and how well the patient responds.
Available strengths 5 strengths
5 mg/mL 7 mg/mL 50 mg/10.8 mL 70 mg/10.8 mL 1 kg/kg
35 FDA-listed product records ⓘ

📊 Caspofungin Injection across the U.S. market

How Caspofungin Injection 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.

1
Dose forms ⓘ
12
Manufacturers
2
Brand names
35
FDA-listed product records ⓘ
2001
First marketed ⓘ
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC17%
Almaject, Inc.11%
Fosun Pharma USA Inc.11%
Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC11%
Sagent Pharmaceuticals11%
Athenex Pharmaceutical Division, LLC.6%
Other makers31%

Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.

📈 How widely Caspofungin Injection is used

A general measure of how commonly Caspofungin Injection 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 Caspofungin Injection 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.

476
Medicaid prescriptions filled (Q1–Q4 2025)
$178,747 gross Medicaid reimbursement (before mandatory rebates — net cost is lower)

How commonly is Caspofungin Injection prescribed? Of the 1,596 medications we measure, Caspofungin Injection ranks #1,365 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 14% of them.

Where Caspofungin Injection ranks among the drugs we measure · Q1–Q4 2025 · neighbors ±5
Total prescriptions — #1,365 of 1,596
#1,360 Niraparib 523 Rx #1,361 Aztreonam Injection 504 Rx #1,362 Elagolix, Estradiol, a... 500 Rx #1,363 Eflornithine 490 Rx #1,364 Laronidase 479 Rx #1,365 Caspofungin Injection 476 Rx #1,366 Phendimetrazine 468 Rx #1,367 Disopyramide 467 Rx #1,368 Pazopanib 466 Rx #1,369 Cefuroxime Injection 465 Rx #1,370 Alanine / Arginine / D... 463 Rx

Utilization by Caspofungin Injection 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.

The 50 mg injection is the most-dispensed Caspofungin Injection product — about 87% of these Medicaid prescriptions.

caspofungin acetate 50 MG Injection Most dispensed

413 Medicaid prescriptions (Q1–Q4 2025) 87% of Caspofungin Injection prescriptions shown $170,546 gross reimbursement (before rebates) ≈ $413 per prescription (gross)

Summed across the 4 of 14 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 828755

caspofungin acetate 70 MG Injection

63 Medicaid prescriptions (Q1–Q3 2025) 13% of Caspofungin Injection prescriptions shown $8,200 gross reimbursement (before rebates) ≈ $130 per prescription (gross)

Summed across the 2 of 14 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 828539

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 Caspofungin Injection, 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 6 of 28 listed Caspofungin Injection NDCs with Medicaid activity.

🔍 Compare Caspofungin Injection products

A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Caspofungin Injection — 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.)

Showing 35 of 35 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 35 Caspofungin Injection NDCs →

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.

Ingredient (IN) Caspofungin Injection RxCUI 140108 1 dose form · 2 strengths
  1. Dose form (SCDF) Injection RxCUI 1734691 In current FDA listings
    Clinical drug / strength (SCD) acetate 50 MG RxCUI 828755 acetate 70 MG RxCUI 828539

Look up RxCUI 140108 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.

🏷️ Sold under these brand names

Cancidas

🏭 Manufacturers & labelers

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC 6 Almaject, Inc. 4 Fosun Pharma USA Inc. 4 Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC 4 Sagent Pharmaceuticals 4 Athenex Pharmaceutical Division, LLC. 2 Cipla USA Inc. 2 Gland Pharma Limited 2 Hangzhou Zhongmei Huadong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 2 Sandoz Inc 2 UBI Pharma Inc. 2 Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. 1

RxNorm drug class

Caspofungin Injection belongs to the Echinocandin Antifungal class.

Pharmacologic class Echinocandin Antifungal
Drug family (ATC) Other antimycotics for systemic use

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.

📄
FDA-filed drug labels (SPL) Uses, dosing, warnings & side effects from SPL records retrieved through openFDA; the linked representative set can be verified on DailyMed. ✓ Linked label effective Jan 8, 2026
🏭
Forms, brands & labelersAggregated from ingredient-matched FDA National Drug Code Directory product records for Caspofungin Injection.
📈
Real-world reportsThe FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), served through openFDA.
🚨
Recalls & shortagesopenFDA drug-enforcement reports and the FDA drug-shortage database.
🧾 Clinical label set — FDA-filed SPL labels retained for Caspofungin Injection after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching
Clinical labels in scope
7
NDC products indexed
35
Distinct labelers/manufacturers represented
12
Linked representative label ⓘ
Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC
Linked label effective
Jan 8, 2026
Composite sections available
22
Linked SPL Set ID
e76d8d83-3691-451c-a32c-d91448c54d16
Linked SPL Document ID
7cdf103b-418f-42a8-bd1b-ebfd8027124a
Open the linked representative label on DailyMed ↗

How we combine label and product data

HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 7 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. Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC 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.