Oxytocin Injection
Oxytocin Injection is a synthetic hormone used to induce or stimulate labor for medical reasons, manage certain abortions, and control postpartum (after-delivery) uterine bleeding.
🧬 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 11 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 →
⚠️ FDA Boxed Warning — the FDA’s strongest safety alert ▾
Oxytocin Injection is approved only for medically necessary induction of labor — not for convenience. Using it to induce labor when there is no medical reason (elective induction) has not been shown to be safe or beneficial based on available evidence. This warning applies to Oxytocin Injection, USP (synthetic). If you have questions about why labor induction has been recommended for you, ask your care team to explain the medical reason.
📖 Oxytocin Injection: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Oxytocin 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▾
Oxytocin Injection is a synthetic hormone used in obstetric (pregnancy-related) care for several specific medical situations.
- Induction of labor when there is a medical need — such as Rh blood incompatibility, maternal diabetes, pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy), or premature rupture of membranes
- Stimulation or reinforcement of labor when uterine contractions are too weak to progress (uterine inertia)
- Adjunctive therapy (supportive treatment) in the management of incomplete or inevitable abortion, including second-trimester abortion by IV infusion
- Producing uterine contractions during the third stage of labor (after the baby is born, before the placenta delivers)
- Controlling postpartum hemorrhage (heavy bleeding after delivery)
- Not approved for elective induction of labor (induction for convenience with no medical reason)
⚙️How it works▾
Oxytocin works by binding to specific receptors in the uterine muscle (myometrium) and increasing calcium levels inside those muscle cells. That calcium activates a key enzyme that triggers the muscle-contracting protein actomyosin — causing the uterus to squeeze and contract. The number of oxytocin receptors in the uterus rises dramatically during pregnancy and peaks in early labor, which is why the uterus becomes increasingly sensitive to even small amounts of oxytocin as the due date approaches.
At high doses, oxytocin also shares properties with vasopressin — a hormone that raises blood pressure and causes the body to hold onto water. This can become clinically significant (noticeable and potentially harmful) when large doses are used.
💊How it's taken▾
Oxytocin Injection is always given by a healthcare professional in a hospital — never at home. The dose is adjusted based on how the uterus responds, not on a fixed schedule.
- Labor induction or stimulation: given only by intravenous (IV) infusion using an infusion pump, with continuous monitoring
- Postpartum bleeding control: given either by IV infusion or by intramuscular (IM) injection after the placenta is delivered
- Incomplete abortion: given by IV infusion
There is no food interaction since this medication is given intravenously or by injection in a clinical setting. Your care team will determine the appropriate rate and duration based on your response.
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
Like all medications, Oxytocin Injection can cause side effects — your care team will monitor for these during administration.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Abnormal heart rhythms (cardiac arrhythmia) in the mother
- Premature ventricular contractions (extra, abnormal heartbeats)
- High blood pressure episodes
- Postpartum hemorrhage (heavy bleeding after delivery)
- Pelvic hematoma (pooling of blood in pelvic tissue)
- Slow heart rate (bradycardia) or abnormal rhythms in the newborn
- Neonatal jaundice (yellowing of newborn's skin)
Serious reactions — including uterine rupture, severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), seizures from water intoxication, and fetal distress — require immediate medical attention and are monitored for throughout treatment.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Hospital-only use: Pitocin must only be given for labor induction or augmentation by IV infusion in a hospital with continuous medical supervision and monitoring of contractions and fetal heart rate.
- Uterine hyperstimulation: Too-strong or too-frequent contractions can lead to uterine rupture, cervical lacerations, heavy bleeding, and serious harm to the baby — the infusion must be stopped immediately if this occurs.
- Water intoxication: High-dose, prolonged infusions can cause the body to retain water dangerously, leading to convulsions, coma, and potentially death. This is a known and serious risk.
- Fetal risks: Oxytocin use has been associated with fetal bradycardia (slow heart rate), low Apgar scores, permanent brain damage, neonatal seizures, and fetal death in serious cases.
- Anaphylaxis: Severe allergic reactions have been reported and require emergency treatment.
- Not for elective induction: The available evidence does not support using this drug to induce labor for convenience — only for clear medical reasons.
🔀What it interacts with▾
Oxytocin Injection can interact with certain anesthetic agents and vasoactive (blood-vessel-affecting) drugs used during labor.
- Vasoconstrictors with caudal block anesthesia: If a vasoconstrictor (a drug that narrows blood vessels) was given as part of a caudal (lower-back) anesthetic block within the past 3–4 hours, adding oxytocin can cause severe high blood pressure.
- Cyclopropane anesthesia: This anesthetic can unpredictably change how oxytocin affects the heart and blood pressure — potentially causing low blood pressure or abnormal heart rhythms, including slow heart rate with irregular beats between the heart's upper and lower chambers.
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▾
- Tell your care team about any history of allergic reactions to oxytocin or similar medications
- Pitocin must not be used if the baby is in a position (such as lying sideways across the uterus) that makes vaginal delivery unsafe without first correcting the position
- Pitocin must not be used if there is a significant size mismatch between the baby's head and the mother's pelvis (cephalopelvic disproportion)
- Pitocin must not be used if the uterus is already contracting too strongly or too frequently (hyperactive or hypertonic uterus)
- Pitocin must not be used in cases where vaginal delivery is contraindicated — including complete placenta previa, cord prolapse or presentation, active genital herpes, or invasive cervical cancer
- Pitocin must not be used when the baby is showing signs of fetal distress and delivery is not imminent
- Inform your provider of all other medications, especially any anesthetics or vasoactive drugs planned for use during labor
🚑If you take too much▾
Too much oxytocin causes the uterus to contract too hard or too long — this can lead to uterine rupture, severe bleeding, lacerations, and serious or fatal complications for both mother and baby. Large doses given over a long period can also cause water intoxication (dangerous fluid buildup), leading to seizures and coma. If overdose is suspected, the oxytocin infusion is stopped immediately and supportive medical treatment is provided.
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
Oxytocin causes the uterine muscle to contract by raising calcium levels inside muscle cells, activating the proteins needed for contraction. After an IV infusion, the uterus begins responding almost immediately, and the effect fades within about one hour after the infusion stops. After an intramuscular injection, contractions begin within 3 to 5 minutes and can last 2 to 3 hours. At high doses, oxytocin also raises blood pressure (pressor effect) and reduces urine output (antidiuretic effect), because of its chemical similarity to vasopressin.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
Oxytocin is distributed throughout the fluid surrounding body cells (extracellular fluid), and small amounts can reach the baby's circulation. Its half-life in the bloodstream — the time it takes for the body to clear half the drug — is very short: about 1 to 6 minutes, and it is even shorter during late pregnancy and breastfeeding. The kidneys and liver are the main organs responsible for clearing it from the body, with only small amounts leaving unchanged in the urine.
📦How to store it▾
Store between 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F).
📄 Written from Oxytocin 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 →
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Oxytocin Injection — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
Why am I being given oxytocin? I thought labor was supposed to start on its own. ▾
How will the oxytocin be given to me? ▾
What side effects should I know about? ▾
Is there anything that could make oxytocin dangerous to use with me? ▾
Can getting too much oxytocin hurt me or the baby? ▾
Will oxytocin affect my baby? ▾
Is Oxytocin Injection available over the counter? ▾
When was Oxytocin Injection first available? ▾
Who makes Oxytocin Injection? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Oxytocin 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
💊 How Oxytocin Injection comes
Oxytocin 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
How this form is used
- Used intravenously to induce or stimulate labor when there is a medical reason (e.g., maternal diabetes, pre-eclampsia, premature membrane rupture)
- Used intravenously or intramuscularly to control postpartum uterine bleeding or hemorrhage after delivery
- Used intravenously to help manage incomplete or inevitable abortion
- Pitocin is contraindicated for elective (non-medical) induction of labor
- For labor induction or stimulation: must be given only by intravenous infusion using an infusion pump, with continuous monitoring of contractions and fetal heart rate
- For postpartum bleeding control: may be given as an intravenous infusion or as an intramuscular injection after delivery of the placenta
- For incomplete abortion: given as an intravenous infusion
- Pitocin for labor induction or augmentation must be administered in a hospital under close medical supervision
📊 Oxytocin Injection across the U.S. market
How Oxytocin 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.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Oxytocin Injection is used
A general measure of how commonly Oxytocin 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 Oxytocin 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.
How commonly is Oxytocin Injection prescribed? Of the 1,596 medications we measure, Oxytocin Injection ranks #1,230 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 23% of them.
Utilization by Oxytocin 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.
1 ML oxytocin 10 UNT/ML Injection Most dispensed
Summed across the 3 of 17 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 1791721
oxytocin 10 UNT/ML Injectable Solution
Summed across the 3 of 13 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 238013
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 Oxytocin 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 30 listed Oxytocin Injection NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Oxytocin Injection products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Oxytocin 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.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Injection | ||||
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular; Intravenous | Cardinal Health | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular, Intravenous | Cardinal Health 107, LLC | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular; Intravenous | Cardinal Health 107, LLC | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular, Intravenous | Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular; Intravenous | Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular; Intravenous | Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. × 2 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [IU]/mL | Intravenous | Par Health USA, LLC × 4 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [IU]/mL | Intravenous | Par Pharmaceutical, Inc. × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular, Intravenous | Remedyrepack Inc. × 2 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 10 [USP'U]/mL | Intramuscular, Intravenous | West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp × 2 listings | ANDA | View NDC → |
Showing 22 of 22 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 22 Oxytocin Injection 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 Oxytocin Injection — 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 Oxytocin Injection 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 Oxytocin Injection 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 7824 2 dose forms · 4 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Injectable Solution RxCUI 93672In current FDA listings -
Dose form (SCDF) Injection RxCUI 1791720In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 1 ML oxytocin 10 UNT/MLRxCUI 1791721
Look up RxCUI 7824 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 Oxytocin Injection 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
Oxytocin Injection belongs to the Oxytocic 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 11 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.