Nifurtimox
Nifurtimox is an antiprotozoal medicine (a nitrofuran) used in children and teens to treat Chagas disease, an infection caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.
Built from the FDA-approved label, dated Mar 3, 2026 · How this page is built
⚡ Quick answers about Nifurtimox
What is this medicine for?
Nifurtimox, sold as Lampit, treats Chagas disease, an infection caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. It is approved for children and teens from birth to under 18 who weigh at least 2.5 kg.
See it in the FAQ →How do I give or take it?
Take Lampit by mouth three times a day with food, for the full 60 days. Tablets can be split by hand on the score line, but not with a splitter.
Read the full answer →What if a dose is missed?
Take it with food as soon as you remember. If the next dose is due within 3 hours, skip the missed one. Never double up.
See it in the FAQ →What side effects should I expect?
The most common are vomiting, stomach pain, headache, nausea, lower appetite, fever, and rash. Weight is checked every 14 days because appetite loss can lead to weight loss.
Read the full answer →🧬 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 →
How we combine label and product data →📖 Nifurtimox: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Nifurtimox — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
What Nifurtimox is used for
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Nifurtimox is used for one condition.
- Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) caused by Trypanosoma cruzi.
- Lampit tablets are approved for patients from birth to under 18 years who weigh at least 2.5 kg.
How Nifurtimox works
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Nifurtimox is an antiprotozoal drug. The parasite's enzymes, called nitroreductases, activate it. This creates toxic byproducts and reactive oxygen molecules that damage the parasite's DNA and kill it. It works on the forms of the parasite found both inside and outside cells.
Parasite strains can differ in how sensitive they are. Lab studies suggest resistance could develop, and there may be cross-resistance with benznidazole. The clinical importance of this is not known.
How Nifurtimox is taken (dosage)
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Lampit tablets are taken by mouth three times a day with food for 60 days. The dose depends on body weight and may be adjusted if weight changes.
- Tablets can be split by hand along the score line. Do not use a splitting device.
- If a patient cannot swallow tablets, they can be dissolved in a small amount of water and taken immediately with food.
- If you miss a dose, take it with food as soon as possible. If the next dose is due within 3 hours, skip the missed one.
- Never take a double dose.
- Complete the full course to help prevent the infection from coming back.
Dosing details from the FDA-approved label
From the Nifurtimox 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.
- Pediatric patients (birth to less than 18 years of age), body weight 41 kg or greater
- Total daily dose of 8 to 10 mg/kg, administered orally three times a day with food for 60 days
- Per-dose amounts by weight: 41 kg to less than 51 kg 120 mg (1 x 120 mg tablet)
- 51 kg to less than 71 kg 180 mg (1 ½ x 120 mg tablets)
- 71 kg to less than 91 kg 240 mg (2 x 120 mg tablets)
- 91 kg or greater 300 mg (2 ½ x 120 mg tablets)
- Must be taken with food; adjust dosage if body weight decreases during treatment; tablets may be split by hand at the score line or made into a slurry
- Pediatric patients (birth to less than 18 years of age; term newborn with body weight greater than or equal to 2.5 kg), body weight less than 41 kg
- Total daily dose of 10 to 20 mg/kg, administered orally three times a day with food for 60 days
- Per-dose amounts by weight: 2.5 kg to 4.5 kg 15 mg (½ x 30 mg tablet)
- 4.6 kg to less than 9 kg 30 mg (1 tablet)
- 9 kg to less than 13 kg 45 mg (1 ½ tablets)
- 13 kg to less than 18 kg 60 mg (2 x 30 mg tablets or ½ x 120 mg tablet)
- 18 kg to less than 22 kg 75 mg
- Must be taken with food; adjust dosage if body weight decreases during treatment; tablets may be split by hand at the score line or made into a slurry
Read the label’s full dosing text
2 DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION • LAMPIT tablets must be taken with food ( 2.1 ) Dosage of LAMPIT in Pediatric Patients (birth a to less than 18 years of age) (2.2) Body Weight Group Total Daily Dose of nifurtimox (mg/kg) 41 kg or greater 8 to 10 Less than 41 kg 10 to 20 a Term newborn with body weight greater than or equal to 2.5 kg • Administer LAMPIT tablets orally, three times daily with food for 60 days. ( 2.2 ) • Obtain a pregnancy test in females of reproductive potential prior to initiating treatment with LAMPIT ( 2.3 , 8.3 ) . • See Full Prescribing Information for additional important administration instructions. ( 2.1 , 2.2 , 2.4, 2.5 ) 2.1 Important Administration Instructions • LAMPIT (30 mg and 120 mg) tablets are for oral use and must be taken with food. • LAMPIT tablets are dosed by body weight of the patient [see Dosage and Administration ( 2.2 )] . • LAMPIT (30 mg and 120 mg) tablets are functionally scored tablets which can be split into one-half (15 mg and 60 mg respectively) at the scored lines by hand. Do not break LAMPIT tablets mechanically with a tablet splitting device [see Dosage and Administration ( 2.4 ) and Instructions for Use] . • LAMPIT 30 mg and 120 mg tablets can be made into a slurry as an alternative method of administration for patients who cannot swallow the tablets [see Dosage and Administration ( 2.5 )] . • Discontinue consumption of alcohol during treatment with LAMPIT [see Contraindications ( 4 ) and Drug Interactions ( 7 )] . • Complete the full course of treatment to prevent recurrence of the infection. • If a dose is missed, take the missed dose as soon as possible together with food. However, if it is within 3 hours of the next scheduled dose, skip the missed dose and continue treatment as prescribed. Do not take a double dose to make up for a missed dose. 2.2 Recommended Dosage in Pediatric Patients • Administer LAMPIT (30 mg and 120 mg) tablets orally three times a day with food. • Total daily recommended dosages of LAMPIT are based on the body weight of the patient (see Table 1 ). • Adjust LAMPIT dosage accordingly if body weight decreases during treatment [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.4 )]. • The recommended duration of treatment with LAMPIT is 60 days.
Excerpted — the section continues on the label. Read the full Dosage and Administration section on DailyMed →
Nifurtimox side effects in detail
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Common side effects
- Vomiting
- Stomach pain
- Headache
- Decreased appetite
- Nausea
- Fever
- Rash
When to get medical help
- Get help right away for signs of a serious allergic reaction: swelling of the face or throat, trouble breathing, itching, severe rash or skin reactions, or low blood pressure.
- Call your doctor if there are new or worsening seizures, behavior changes, or psychiatric symptoms.
- Call your doctor if there is ongoing loss of appetite, vomiting, or weight loss.
- Tell your doctor if you have a known history of porphyria and symptoms flare up.
The most common side effects are:
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Headache
- Decreased appetite
- Nausea
- Fever
- Rash
Seek medical help quickly for allergic reactions such as facial or throat swelling, trouble breathing, or severe skin reactions. Also report new neurological or psychiatric symptoms.
Nifurtimox warnings and precautions
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- Genotoxicity and cancer risk: Nifurtimox can damage genetic material. Its cancer risk in humans is unknown.
- Fetal harm: It may harm an unborn baby. Pregnancy testing and contraception are advised.
- Nervous system and mental health: It may worsen existing brain injury, seizures, psychiatric illness, or behavior problems.
- Allergic reactions: Treatment should be stopped at the first sign of a serious one.
- Appetite and weight loss: Weight is checked every 14 days.
- Porphyria: It may trigger acute attacks.
Nifurtimox interactions: what it interacts with
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The label highlights one key interaction.
- Alcohol: it can increase the number and severity of unwanted effects, so alcohol must be avoided during treatment.
- No clinical drug interaction studies have been done. Lab studies suggest nifurtimox does not act on common liver enzymes (CYPs).
Interactions listed in the FDA-approved label
From the Nifurtimox prescribing information (“Drug Interactions”): what the manufacturer studied or reported to the FDA.
- Alcohol: Concomitant use of LAMPIT with alcohol may increase the incidence and severity of undesirable effects, similar to other nitrofurans and nitroheterocyclic compounds. LAMPIT is contraindicated in patients who consume alcohol during treatment; discontinue consumption of alcohol during treatment.
Read the label’s full interactions text
7 DRUG INTERACTIONS Concomitant use of LAMPIT with alcohol may increase the incidence and severity of undesirable effects similar to other nitrofurans and nitroheterocyclic compounds. LAMPIT is contraindicated in patients who consume alcohol during treatment [see Dosage and Administration ( 2.2 ) Contraindications ( 4 )].
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 Nifurtimox
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- Allergy to nifurtimox or any ingredient in Lampit.
- Drinking alcohol during treatment.
- Pregnancy: a pregnancy test is advised first. Use effective contraception during treatment and for 6 months after the last dose.
- Males with partners who can become pregnant: use condoms during treatment and for 3 months after. Fertility may be affected.
- Breastfeeding: nifurtimox passes into breast milk. Watch the infant for vomiting, rash, poor appetite, fever, and irritability.
- History of brain injury, seizures, psychiatric illness, or serious behavior changes.
- Porphyria.
- Kidney or liver problems: closer medical supervision is needed.
Pharmacodynamics: what Nifurtimox does in the body
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How nifurtimox exposure relates to its effects, and the timing of those effects, are not known. At the recommended dose, it does not cause large average increases in the QTc interval (a measure of heart rhythm timing).
Pharmacokinetics: how your body processes Nifurtimox
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Nifurtimox reaches its peak level in the blood about 4 hours after a dose taken with food. A high-fat meal raised blood levels by roughly 70% compared with fasting. Its half-life is about 2.4 to 3.6 hours.
It is broken down mainly by nitroreductase enzymes into inactive metabolites. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and the placenta. About 27% to 44% of a dose is found in urine, mostly as metabolites. Blood levels were higher in people with end-stage kidney disease.
How to store Nifurtimox
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Store at controlled room temperature 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F); excursions permitted to 15°C to 30°C (59°F to 86°F). Store LAMPIT tablets in the original bottle with child-resistant closures and do not remove the desiccant. protect from moisture.
📄 Written from Nifurtimox’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 Nifurtimox
17 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Nifurtimox in the licensed clinical database we use. Most are manageable — but your pharmacist should know about everything you take, including vitamins and herbals.
- Major · 1
- Moderate · 7
- Minor · 9
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.
🩺 Nifurtimox: pharmacist answers to common questions
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Nifurtimox — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What is this medicine for?
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How do I give or take it?
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What if a dose is missed?
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What side effects should I expect?
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Can I drink alcohol while on it?
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What about pregnancy?
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Is Nifurtimox available over the counter?
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When was Nifurtimox first available?
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💬 Answers drafted from Nifurtimox’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 Nifurtimox on HelloPharmacist
💊 Nifurtimox forms and strengths (how it comes)
Nifurtimox 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
- Lampit is used to treat Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi in patients from birth to under 18 years who weigh at least 2.5 kg.
- Lampit tablets are taken by mouth three times a day with food.
- Lampit tablets are scored and can be split by hand. Do not use a tablet splitter.
- For patients who cannot swallow tablets, Lampit can be mixed in a small amount of water to form a slurry and taken right away with food.
- If a Lampit dose is missed, take it with food as soon as possible. Skip it if the next dose is within 3 hours. Never double up.
📊 Nifurtimox on the U.S. market: products, makers and brands
How Nifurtimox 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 6 Nifurtimox product records with the FDA, mostly as tablet; the earliest marketing or approval year on record is 2020. Brand names on the directory include Lampit; the rest are generics.
🔍 Compare Nifurtimox products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Nifurtimox — 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 | ||||
| 30 mg | Oral | Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 120 mg | Oral | Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
Showing 6 of 6 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 6 Nifurtimox NDCs →
📈 Nifurtimox 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 Nifurtimox — 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 Nifurtimox 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.
🏛️ Nifurtimox FDA approval history
How Nifurtimox went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Nifurtimox 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 7421 1 dose form · 2 strengths
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Dose form (SCDF) Oral Tablet RxCUI 446700In current FDA listings
Look up RxCUI 7421 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.
📦 Nifurtimox supply and shortage status
Whether Nifurtimox 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.
🏷️ Nifurtimox brand names
Nifurtimox is sold under one brand name in the FDA directory — Lampit. A brand and its generic contain the same active ingredient; the brand name belongs to one company's product.
🏭 Who makes Nifurtimox: manufacturers and labelers
One company lists Nifurtimox products with the FDA. By number of product records, the largest are Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals INC.. Labelers include manufacturers and repackagers; the product in your bottle depends on which one your pharmacy stocks.
Nifurtimox drug class (RxNorm)
Nifurtimox belongs to the Nitrofuran derivatives 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 Nifurtimox 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. Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals 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.