Tirofiban

Tirofiban is a prescription medication used to treat acute coronary syndrome. This is a condition when there is a sudden, decreased blood flow to the heart. Tirofiban belongs to a group of drugs called antiplatelet agents. These work by preventing platelets from collecting and forming clots that may cause a coronary event such as a heart attack.

This medication is available in an injectable form to be given directly into a vein (IV) by a healthcare professional.

Common side effects of tirofiban include bleeding.

Tirofiban is a prescription medication used to treat acute coronary syndrome. This is a condition when there is a sudden, decreased blood flow to the heart.

This medication may be prescribed for other uses. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Tirofiban may be found in some form under the following brand names:

• Aggrastat

Serious side effects have been reported with tirofiban See the “Drug Precautions” section.

Common side effects of tirofiban include bleeding.

This is not a complete list of tirofiban side effects. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.

Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Especially tell your doctor if you take:

• antiplatelets (a type of blood thinner) such as clopidogrel (Plavix), aspirin, prasugrel (Effient), ticagrelor (Brilinta), ticlopidine (Ticlid), abciximab (ReoPro), eptifibatide (Integrilin), tirofiban (Aggrastat), and cilostazol (Pletal)
• anticoagulant (blood thinner) medications such as warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven), heparin, enoxaparin (Lovenox), fondaparinux (Arixtra), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), and apixaban (Eliquis) 
• Heparin
• Aspirin
• Thromolytic agesnts such as Alteplase (activase), Defibrotide, Reteplase (retavase) and Tenecteplase (TNKase).

This is not a complete list of tirofiban drug interactions. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Serious side effects have been reported with tirofiban including the following: 

• Bleeding. Bleeding is the most common complication encountered during therapy with tirofiban. Your doctor will monitor your labs. 

Do not take tirofiban if you:

• are allergic to tirofiban or to any of its ingredients 
• have a history of thrombocytopenia (low platelets) after being given tirofiban
• have active interal bleeding
• have a history of bleeding
• have a history of bleeding in the skull
• have a history of stroke within 30 days or any history of hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding)
• have had a major surgical procedure or severe physical trauma within the previous month
• have severe high blood pressure
• are taking a similar medications such as abciximab (ReoPro) and eptifibatide (Integrilin) 
• have acute pericarditis (inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart)

Medications can interact with certain foods. In some cases, this may be harmful and your doctor may advise you to avoid certain foods. In the case of tirofiban, there are no specific foods that you must exclude from your diet when receiving this medication.

Before taking tirofiban, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions. Especially tell your doctor if you:

• are allergic to tirofiban or to any of its ingredients
• have a stomach ulcer or ulcerative colitis
• severe liver disease
• severe high blood pressure
• a bleeding or blood clotting disorder
• a history of head injury
• brain tumor or blood clot in the brain (aneurysm)
• a stroke or any type of bleeding within the past 30 days
• any type of surgery, injury, or medical emergency within the past 6 weeks
• are pregnant or plan to become pregnant during treatment with tirofiban and aspirin

Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.

Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

The FDA categorizes medications based on safety for use during pregnancy. Five categories - A, B, C, D, and X, are used to classify the possible risks to an unborn baby when a medication is taken during pregnancy.

Tirofiban falls into category B.  There are no well-done studies that have been done in humans with tirofiban. In animal studies, pregnant animals were given this medication, and the babies did not show any medical issues related to this medication. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, this drug should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.

Tell your doctor if you are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed.

It is not known if tirofiban is excreted in human breast milk. Because many medications can cross into human milk and because of the possibility for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants with use of this medication, a choice should be made whether to stop nursing or stop the use of this medication. Your doctor and you will decide if the benefits outweigh the risk of using tirofiban.

This medication is available in an injectable form to be given directly into a vein (IV) by a healthcare professional.

The dose your doctor recommends will be based on your weight and how well your kidneys work. 

In most patients, tirofiban should be injected into the vein at an initial rate of 0.4 µg/kg/min for 30 minutes and then continued at 0.1 µg/kg/min.

Tirofiban is administered by a healthcare provider in a medical setting, it is unlikely that an overdose will occur. However, if overdose is suspected, seek emergency medical attention.