Ripretinib
Ripretinib is a kinase inhibitor used to treat advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in adults who have already tried multiple other treatments.
🧬 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 →
📖 Ripretinib: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Ripretinib — 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▾
Ripretinib is a targeted cancer medicine approved for the following use:
- Qinlock (oral tablet) is indicated for adults with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) who have already been treated with three or more kinase inhibitor medicines, including imatinib — meaning it is a later-line treatment option after other therapies have been tried.
⚙️How it works▾
Ripretinib is a kinase inhibitor — a drug that blocks specific proteins called kinases that cancer cells use to grow and multiply. It targets KIT and PDGFRA kinases, including both the original (wild-type) forms and mutated versions that can develop resistance to other treatments. By blocking these signals, it helps slow the tumor's ability to grow. It also affects several other kinases, including PDGFRB, TIE2, VEGFR2, and BRAF, which may contribute to its anti-tumor activity.
💊How it's taken▾
Qinlock tablets are taken once daily by mouth, with or without food, and should be swallowed whole. They are taken continuously until the cancer progresses or side effects become unmanageable. If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember — but only if less than 8 hours have passed since your scheduled time. If you vomit after taking a dose, do not take an extra one; simply take your next dose at the usual time.
- Take at the same time every day to keep levels steady
- If your doctor needs to adjust your dose due to side effects or a drug interaction, follow their updated instructions exactly
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
The most commonly reported side effects with Qinlock include:
- Hair loss
- Fatigue
- Nausea and vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Constipation and diarrhea
- Muscle pain (myalgia)
- Decreased appetite
- Palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia — redness, pain, and peeling on palms and soles
- Headache
- Swelling in the legs or feet (peripheral edema)
Serious reactions that require prompt medical attention include signs of high blood pressure (severe headache, chest pain), heart problems (shortness of breath, swelling), new skin lesions or changing moles, and slow-healing wounds.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Skin reaction (PPES): Redness, pain, or blistering on palms or soles affects about 1 in 5 patients — tell your doctor promptly so the dose can be adjusted if needed.
- New skin cancers: Squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma have been reported. Skin exams before and regularly during treatment are strongly recommended.
- High blood pressure: Can develop or worsen during treatment. Blood pressure must be controlled before starting Qinlock and monitored throughout.
- Heart function: Qinlock can weaken the heart's pumping ability. A heart function test is done before and during treatment; the drug is permanently stopped for severe heart dysfunction.
- Wound healing: Qinlock can interfere with healing. It should be paused at least 1 week before planned surgery and not resumed for at least 2 weeks after major surgery.
- Photosensitivity: Sun sensitivity reactions have occurred. Limit direct UV exposure during treatment and for at least 1 week after the last dose.
- Fetal harm: Qinlock can cause serious birth defects. Effective contraception is required for both men and women during treatment and for 1 week after stopping.
🔀What it interacts with▾
Ripretinib is broken down mainly by a liver enzyme called CYP3A4, so drugs that affect this enzyme can change how much ripretinib is in your blood:
- Strong CYP3A inhibitors (e.g., itraconazole): Raise ripretinib levels, increasing the risk of side effects — more frequent monitoring is needed.
- Strong CYP3A inducers (e.g., rifampin): Lower ripretinib levels, which may reduce how well the drug works against the tumor — avoid combining.
- Moderate CYP3A inducers (e.g., efavirenz): Also lower ripretinib levels — avoid if possible. If unavoidable, your doctor may increase the dosing frequency and monitor your response.
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▾
- Pregnancy: Qinlock can cause serious harm to an unborn baby, including birth defects. Tell your doctor immediately if you become pregnant.
- Breastfeeding: Do not breastfeed during treatment or for 1 week after the last dose.
- Contraception: Both women and men of reproductive potential must use effective birth control during treatment and for 1 week after stopping.
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure: Qinlock should not be started until blood pressure is properly controlled.
- Heart problems: If you have a history of reduced heart function (ejection fraction below 50%), the safety of Qinlock has not been established — discuss with your doctor.
- Liver disease: Dose adjustment is generally not required even with significant liver impairment, but your doctor should be aware of any liver conditions.
- Planned surgery: Tell your surgical team you are on Qinlock — it needs to be paused before and after procedures.
- Children: Qinlock has not been studied in patients under 18 and is not approved for pediatric use.
- Older adults: Patients 65 and older have used Qinlock in clinical trials; no specific dose adjustment is recommended, though data are limited.
- Male fertility: Animal studies suggest Qinlock may affect male fertility — discuss this with your doctor if it is a concern.
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
At the recommended dose, Qinlock does not cause a meaningful increase in the QTc interval — the part of the heart's electrical cycle that, when prolonged, can lead to dangerous arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). This suggests Qinlock is unlikely to pose a significant heart rhythm risk at standard doses. The full relationship between blood levels of ripretinib and its effects on the body has not yet been completely mapped out.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
After you take a Qinlock tablet, ripretinib is absorbed and reaches peak blood levels in about 4 hours. It is extensively bound to proteins in the blood and is broken down mainly by the liver enzyme CYP3A4 into an equally active metabolite called DP-5439. Both ripretinib and DP-5439 have half-lives (the time for blood levels to fall by half) of roughly 15–18 hours, allowing once-daily dosing. Steady, stable blood levels are reached after about 14 days of daily dosing. The drug can be taken with or without food — a high-fat meal does not meaningfully change how much is absorbed. Most of the drug and its metabolites leave the body through the stool.
📦How to store it▾
Dispense in original container only. Store in the original container with the desiccant to protect from moisture and light. Store at 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F); excursion permitted between 15°C to 30°C (59°F to 86°F) .
📄 Written from Ripretinib’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 Ripretinib
168 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Ripretinib 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 · 124
- Minor · 38
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 Ripretinib — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What exactly is Qinlock used for, and why was I prescribed it? ▾
Does it matter if I take Qinlock with food or on an empty stomach? ▾
What side effects are most likely, and which ones should I call my doctor about right away? ▾
I'm having a planned surgery soon. Do I need to stop Qinlock before it? ▾
Can I get pregnant or father a child while taking Qinlock? ▾
Are there any common medications or supplements I should avoid while on Qinlock? ▾
Is Ripretinib available over the counter? ▾
When was Ripretinib first available? ▾
Who makes Ripretinib? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Ripretinib’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 Ripretinib comes
Ripretinib 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
- Qinlock tablets are used to treat adults with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) who have already received three or more kinase inhibitor treatments, including imatinib
- Qinlock tablets are taken by mouth once daily, with or without food
- Swallow Qinlock tablets whole — do not crush or chew
- Take Qinlock at the same time each day
- If you miss a dose and less than 8 hours have passed, take it as soon as you remember; if more time has passed, skip it and continue with your next scheduled dose
📊 Ripretinib across the U.S. market
How Ripretinib appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
Also listed with the FDA, not a patient dose form: Powder (4) — bulk drug substance sold to compounders/manufacturers and multi-item kits. These aren’t counted in the dose-form total above.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Ripretinib is used
A general measure of how commonly Ripretinib 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 Ripretinib 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 Ripretinib prescribed? Of the 1,596 medications we measure, Ripretinib ranks #1,414 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 11% of them.
Utilization by Ripretinib 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.
ripretinib 50 MG Oral Tablet
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2369397
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 Ripretinib, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 1 of 2 listed Ripretinib NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Ripretinib products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Ripretinib — 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 | ||||
| 50 mg | Oral | Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, LLC × 3 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
| 💊Bulk drug substance | ||||
| 1 kg/kg | — | Cambrex Charles City, Inc × 4 listings | BULK INGREDIENT | View NDC → |
Showing 7 of 7 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 7 Ripretinib 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 Ripretinib — 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 Ripretinib 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 Ripretinib 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 2369389 1 dose form · 1 strength
-
Dose form (SCDF) Oral Tablet RxCUI 2369396In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 50 MGRxCUI 2369397
Look up RxCUI 2369389 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 Ripretinib 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
Ripretinib belongs to the Kinase Inhibitor class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 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 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. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, 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.