Iloprost
Iloprost is a synthetic prostacyclin — a drug that widens blood vessels and prevents clotting — used by injection (Aurlumyn) to treat severe frostbite in adults.
🧬 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 →
Iloprost (Aurlumyn) is a man-made prostacyclin, given in the hospital as an IV drip into a vein to lower the risk of losing fingers or toes after severe frostbite, and it works by widening blood vessels and stopping platelets (clotting cells) from clumping; it is a specialist drug and the first FDA-approved frostbite treatment, with iloprost on the U.S. market since about 2012. Headache, flushing, nausea and a racing heartbeat are common but usually ease when the drip is slowed. The main risk is low blood pressure, so blood pressure and pulse are checked before starting and whenever the rate goes up, and you should speak up at once if you feel faint or lightheaded.
Clinical pearls
- Blood pressure medicines and other vessel-widening drugs may be paused on infusion days to avoid a bigger drop.
- Report jaw pain, severe headache or vomiting during the drip, because the infusion rate can be lowered or stopped.
- Mention liver disease or dialysis beforehand, since the starting rate or infusion timing may be changed.
- Do not breastfeed while receiving iloprost, and tell the team if you are pregnant or could be.
Patient information guide A plain-language walkthrough of Iloprost, written from its FDA label.
What Iloprost is used for
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Iloprost is used across different products to treat conditions involving poor blood circulation. Here is what the FDA-approved evidence supports:
- Aurlumyn (iloprost, intravenous injection) is approved to treat severe frostbite in adults to reduce the risk of losing fingers or toes (digit amputation). Clinical effectiveness was established in young, healthy adults who sustained frostbite at high altitudes.
How Iloprost works
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Iloprost is a synthetic (lab-made) analog of prostacyclin — a naturally occurring compound in the body that helps regulate blood flow. It works by dilating (widening) blood vessels, which improves circulation to areas that have been cut off from adequate blood supply. It also inhibits platelet aggregation, meaning it stops the small blood cells called platelets from clumping together to form clots. Together, these actions help restore blood flow to tissue damaged by frostbite and reduce the likelihood of tissue death that leads to amputation.
Iloprost dosage
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Aurlumyn is given intravenously (into a vein) by a healthcare team — this is not a take-home medication. It is infused continuously over 6 hours each day for up to 8 consecutive days. The infusion rate is started low and gradually increased every 30 minutes depending on how well you tolerate it, up to a maximum level.
- Vital signs are checked before the infusion starts and with every dose increase
- If side effects become difficult to tolerate, the rate is stepped back down or the infusion is paused
- People with significant liver or kidney disease may need a lower starting rate
Dosing details from the FDA-approved label
From the Iloprost prescribing information (“Dosage and Administration”). Doses are set by your prescriber for your product, condition, kidney function and age — never change a dose on your own.
- Recommended dosage (general; indication not named in the provided text)
- Initiate intravenous infusion at 0.5 ng/kg/minute and increase in increments of 0.5 ng/kg/minute every 30 minutes according to tolerability up to 2 ng/kg/minute
- Administer as a continuous infusion over 6 hours each day for up to a maximum of 8 consecutive days
- Repeat dose titration steps on day 2 and day 3. From day 4 onward, start the infusion at the high
- Maximum: 2 ng/kg/minute; up to a maximum of 8 consecutive days
- Dosage is based on actual patient body weight (kg); if dose-limiting adverse reactions occur, decrease the dose stepwise by 0.5 ng/kg/min every 30 minutes until a tolerated dose is reached
- Patients with moderate or severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh Class B or C)
- Initiate at 0.25 ng/kg/minute for 30 minutes then continue titration in 0.5 ng/kg/minutes increments every 30 minutes according to tolerability
- Maximum: 2 ng/kg/minute
- Lower starting dose than the general recommendation
- Patients with renal impairment with eGFR less than 30 mL/min
- Initiate and titrate per recommended dosage (start 0.5 ng/kg/minute)
- If the starting dose cannot be tolerated, the dose can be lowered to 0.25 ng/kg/minute
- Maximum: 2 ng/kg/minute
- For intermittent hemodialysis, consider iloprost administration after the end of hemodialysis, or start hemodialysis at least one hour after the end of the iloprost infusion
Read the label’s full dosing text
2 DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION Initiate intravenous infusion at 0.5 ng/kg/minute and titrate in 0.5 ng/kg/minute increments based on tolerability at intervals of 30 minutes to a maximum of 2 ng/kg/minute ( 2.1 ). Administer as continuous infusion for 6 hours each day up to a maximum of 8 consecutive days ( 2.1 ). Patients with moderate or severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh Class B or C): initiate infusion at 0.25 ng/kg/minute and titrate as described above ( 2.3 ). Patients with renal impairment with eGFR less than 30 mL/min: initiate infusion at 0.5 ng/kg/minute and titrate as described above. If the patient cannot tolerate the starting dose of 0.5 ng/kg/minute, the dose can be decreased to 0.25 ng/kg/minute ( 2.4 ). See Full Prescribing Information for instructions on preparation and administration ( 2.2 ). 2.1 Recommended Dosage Monitor vital signs prior to the start of the infusion and with every dose increase. Administer AURLUMYN as a continuous intravenous infusion over 6 hours each day for up to a maximum of 8 consecutive days. Start the initial infusion on day 1 at a rate of 0.5 ng/kg/minute and increase in increments of 0.5 ng/kg/minute every 30 minutes according to tolerability up to 2 ng/kg/minute. Dosage is based on actual patient body weight (kg). Repeat dose titration steps on day 2 and day 3. From day 4 onward, start the infusion at the highest tolerated dose from the previous day, and adjust the rate as needed, based on tolerability. Adverse reactions such as headache, flushing, jaw pain, myalgia, nausea, and vomiting may be dose-limiting. If dose-limiting adverse reactions occur that cannot be tolerated by the patient, then decrease the dose in a stepwise manner by 0.5 ng/kg/min every 30 minutes, until a tolerated dose is reached. If a dose-limiting adverse reaction occurs during administration of AURLUMYN at the starting dose, the infusion should be discontinued, and re-initiation of the infusion can be attempted after the event has resolved or been treated. If infusion is stopped at any point for a dose-limiting adverse event, infusion can be reinitiated at a previously tolerated dose/infusion rate once the event has resolved. The maximum tolerated dose should be maintained for the remaining 6-hour daily infusion. 2.2 Preparation and Administration Preparation: Use aseptic technique to prepare AURLUMYN.
Excerpted — the section continues on the label. Read the full Dosage and Administration section on DailyMed →
Iloprost side effects
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The most commonly reported side effects of iloprost infusion include:
Common side effects
- Headache
- Flushing (warmth or redness in the face)
- Palpitations or fast heartbeat (tachycardia)
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Dizziness
- Low blood pressure (hypotension)
When to get medical help
- Call your care team right away if you feel faint, lightheaded, or your blood pressure drops significantly — this may be symptomatic low blood pressure (hypotension)
- Tell your nurse or doctor immediately if side effects like severe headache, jaw pain, or vomiting cannot be tolerated — the infusion rate may need to be reduced or stopped
Low blood pressure is the most important side effect to watch for. If you feel faint, very dizzy, or notice your blood pressure drops significantly, tell your care team immediately — the infusion rate may need to be lowered or temporarily stopped.
Iloprost warnings and precautions
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- Low blood pressure (hypotension): Because iloprost widens blood vessels throughout the body, it can lower blood pressure enough to cause symptoms. Blood pressure must be corrected before starting Aurlumyn, and vital signs are monitored throughout each infusion session.
- Drug interactions with blood pressure medications: Taking other vasodilators (drugs that widen blood vessels) or antihypertensives (blood pressure-lowering drugs) at the same time can make the blood pressure drop more than expected. Your care team may pause those medications during treatment.
- Pregnancy: Animal studies showed possible developmental harm at certain doses. There is no solid human data for IV iloprost in pregnancy. Talk to your doctor about the risks.
- Breastfeeding: Iloprost may pass into breast milk. Women are advised not to breastfeed during treatment.
Iloprost interactions
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Always share your full medication list with your care team before starting Aurlumyn. Key interactions to be aware of include:
- Vasodilators and antihypertensive drugs (blood pressure-lowering medications): Combining these with iloprost can cause additive drops in blood pressure — your team may temporarily hold these during infusion
- Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid): Does not appear to change how iloprost is cleared from the body
- Digoxin: Iloprost does not appear to affect digoxin levels in the blood
Not a complete list. The label covers the interactions the manufacturer studied or reported, and our own interaction database does not cover every medicine either. Bring your full medication list, including vitamins and herbal products, to your pharmacist.
Before taking Iloprost
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- Tell your doctor if you have low blood pressure — it must be corrected before Aurlumyn can be safely started
- Tell your doctor if you have moderate or severe liver disease (Child-Pugh Class B or C) — a lower starting infusion rate is used
- Tell your doctor if you have significant kidney disease (eGFR below 30 mL/min) or are on dialysis — dosing may be adjusted and timing around dialysis sessions matters
- Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or trying to conceive — animal data showed developmental concerns at high doses
- Do not breastfeed during treatment — iloprost may be present in breast milk
- Children: Safety and effectiveness have not been established in pediatric patients
- Older adults: Use with extra caution; start at the lower end of the dose range due to the greater likelihood of liver, kidney, or heart changes with age
Iloprost overdose
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Overdose with intravenous iloprost has not been formally reported. If too much is given, the most likely effects are low blood pressure, vomiting, and diarrhea. There is no specific antidote. The infusion would be stopped, and supportive care and monitoring would be provided.
What Iloprost does in the body
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Iloprost acts as a systemic vasodilator — it relaxes and widens blood vessels throughout the body, which can lower blood pressure and improve blood flow to poorly perfused (underperfused) areas. It also reduces platelet aggregation, meaning it makes platelets less likely to clump and form clots. In the context of severe frostbite, these combined effects help restore circulation to frostbitten digits and reduce tissue damage that could require amputation.
How your body processes Iloprost
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When given intravenously, iloprost is processed quickly by the body — it has a short half-life of 20 to 30 minutes, meaning it is cleared from the body rapidly. About 60% of the drug binds to proteins in the blood (mainly albumin). Iloprost is broken down primarily through a process called beta-oxidation (not mainly through the liver's cytochrome P450 enzyme system), and its main breakdown product is excreted mostly in the urine. People with significant liver disease clear iloprost more slowly, and those with severe kidney disease or on dialysis may have higher drug exposure, which is why dose adjustments are needed in these groups.
How to store Iloprost
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stored at 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F), with excursions permitted to 15°C to 30°C (59°F to 86°F) . Do not freeze.
Written from the FDA-approved label with AI and reviewed by our pharmacy team. How we use AI →
Supplements & herbs that interact with Iloprost
287 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Iloprost 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 · 254
- Minor · 27
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.
Nutrient depletion considerations
Iloprost has been associated with lower levels of 1 nutrient in the clinical literature. This does not mean a deficiency will occur — it means these may be worth discussing with your pharmacist or healthcare provider, especially with long-term use.
Educational information from a licensed clinical database (Natural Medicines) — not medical advice. Do not start or stop medications or supplements without professional guidance.
Iloprost: pharmacist answers to common questions
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Iloprost — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What exactly is Aurlumyn used for?
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How is this medication given? Do I take it at home?
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What side effects should I expect, and which ones should I call about right away?
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I take blood pressure medication. Is that a problem?
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Can I receive this treatment if I have liver or kidney disease?
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Is this safe if I'm pregnant or breastfeeding?
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Is Iloprost available over the counter?
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When was Iloprost first available?
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Answers drafted from the FDA-approved label with AI and reviewed by our pharmacy team. How we use AI →
More about Iloprost on HelloPharmacist
Iloprost forms and strengths (how it comes)
Iloprost is available in 2 forms. 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.
Need a version that does not list lactose, a gluten source, a dye or gelatin? Inactive ingredients differ by manufacturer: see Iloprost inactive ingredients by manufacturer.
Injection
How this form is used
- Aurlumyn is used to treat severe frostbite in adults to reduce the risk of digit (finger or toe) amputations
- Aurlumyn is given as a continuous IV infusion over 6 hours each day for up to 8 consecutive days in a clinical setting
- Aurlumyn must be diluted with 0.9% Sodium Chloride (saline) before administration — do not mix with other medications
- Aurlumyn is administered through a peripheral IV line or central catheter using an infusion pump with an in-line filter
- Aurlumyn infusion rate is started low and increased gradually every 30 minutes based on tolerability — your care team manages this
Oral solution
Iloprost on the U.S. market: products, makers and brands
How Iloprost 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 company lists 1 Iloprost product record with the FDA, mostly as injection, oral solution; the earliest marketing or approval year on record is 2004. Brand names on the directory include Ventavis, Aurlumyn; the rest are generics.
FDA-listed product records by dose form (tablet variants merged) — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are 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.
Compare Iloprost products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Iloprost — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Injection | ||||
| 100 mcg/mL | Intravenous | BTG International Inc | NDA | View NDC → |
Showing 1 of 1 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 1 Iloprost NDCs →
Iloprost 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 Iloprost — 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 Iloprost 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.
Iloprost FDA approval history
How Iloprost went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
Iloprost 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.
The FDA’s enforcement reports list no Iloprost recalls since July 2021.
✅No Iloprost recalls on record since July 2021Source: FDA enforcement (recall) reports, via openFDA; our copy was last updated Sep 24, 2026.
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 40138 3 dose forms · 4 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Inhalation Solution RxCUI 2108433No current FDA listingClinical drug / strength (SCD) 0.01 MG/MLRxCUI 4870560.02 MG/MLRxCUI 861964 -
Dose form (SCDF) Injectable Solution RxCUI 385605In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 0.1 MG/MLRxCUI 226758 -
Dose form (SCDF) Injection RxCUI 2680302In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 1 ML iloprost 0.1 MG/MLRxCUI 2680303
Look up RxCUI 40138 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.
Iloprost supply and shortage status
Whether Iloprost 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.
Iloprost brand names
Iloprost is sold under 2 brand names in the FDA directory — Ventavis, Aurlumyn. A brand and its generic contain the same active ingredient; the brand name belongs to one company's product.
Who makes Iloprost: manufacturers and labelers
One company lists Iloprost products with the FDA. By number of product records, the largest are BTG International Inc. Labelers include manufacturers and repackagers; the product in your bottle depends on which one your pharmacy stocks.
Iloprost drug class (RxNorm)
Iloprost belongs to the Prostacycline 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 Iloprost 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 this page is built
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records and does not author the underlying clinical facts. The plain-language sections are written with AI from the FDA-approved label text and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. BTG International Inc is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates. This is general education, not medical advice: always talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own medicines. How we build and review drug pages →