Is Fluconazole Gluten-free?

[bigapplekathleen]

Hi,

I got a prescrip today for diflucan, and it was filled with the generic form, fluconazole 150mg, made my Glenmark Pharma. I contacted glenmark about the gluten status, and cannot reach anyone there. Their website shows no information, either. Does anyone out there know if this is safe for me to take?

Thanks so much,

Kat

[CarlaB]

Sorry, I don't know, but I wanted to tell you that last time I got a prescription, the pharmacist was happy to call and find out for me. This is a small locally owned pharmacy though, but I bet any pharmacy would do that for you.

[gf4life]

I don't know about the generic fluconazole, but if you find out could you post it? My husband takes this daily for a fungal infection called coccidiomycosis (Valley Fever) and about a year or so ago is when they switched over to generic. I think because it is fairly new to the drug scene the generic hasn't made it onto any lists yet, or else it isn't gluten-free.

Sorry I couldn't help you Kathleen. I know if they gave it to you, then you really need to take it, so i hope you can find out soon. Or else take it back to the pharmacy and see if they can give you the Diflucan brand name meds instead.

[bigapplekathleen]

HI everyone,

The generic form of fluconazole from Glenmark Pharma is indeed gluten-free. I ended up just researching the exceipient list using the lists from glutenfreedrugs.com and cross-referencing it with the ingredients that the pharmacist had on her insert.

Unfortunately, we couldn't reach the company on Friday when I picked up the prescription, so I had to do all of the research on my own!

I finally got in touch with Glenmark on Monday(long after I took the drug) and they confirmed that it is gluten-free.

Hope this info might help someone else. (I always seem to forget to ask my doctor to write 'no substitutions on the prescription form so that I don't have to go through this. I ran into this problem when Cipro finally went generic...and the generic of that drug DOES contain gluten, or at least it did the last time I checked.)

Kathleen

[gf4life]

Thanks Kathleen. Now I know that if my kids or I need it that we can take the generic. The prevalence of the Valley Fever fungus is very high here in central California and a lot of people get it every year. Once you get it though, you can't get it again...But fluconazole is what they prescribe for it if you get really sick.

Sorry that you had to do all that research yourself! That's awful, but at least you know what to look for and figured it out yourself. It is nice to have confirmation from the company though...

[ThatlldoGyp]

March 2008 update:

Glenmark Fluconazone IS gluten free per phone verification from Glenmark.

[Joni63]

Thanks for the info about Glenmarks generic Diflucan. Sometimes these companies phone numbers are not easily accessible at the pharmacies.

One thing I found out about Cipro is that one generic company may make a non gluten-free version, while another will. I recently ran into this problem myself. After checking with 4 pharmacies and who they use for their generic Cipro, I found a safe one.

So if you can't find a suitable generic at one pharmacy, check around to others!