Drug Safety Information for ABREVA (Docosanol)

Adverse Drug Reactions for ABREVA* (Docosanol)

These charts and graphs are based on reports received through the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) program (see below).

Top 20 Adverse Effects Associated with ABREVA
(reported in FDA Medwatch/FAERS Reports)

  Side Effect # of FDA Reports
1Drug ineffective*4496
2Drug administration error1643
3Oral herpes1201
4Herpes simplex704
5Condition aggravated581
6Product quality issue295
7Application site pain243
8Swelling face240
9Lip swelling216
10Application site irritation185
11Hypersensitivity174
12Application site erythema168
13Intentional drug misuse159
14Application site swelling139
15Cheilitis99
16Application site scab86
17Application site reaction83
18Lip pain74
19Application site scar72
20Chapped lips64

* This side effect also appears in "Top 10 Side Effects of ABREVA " in the drug's Review Summary based on AskaPatient reviews.

Top 10 Reasons for Taking ABREVA
(associated with FDA Medwatch/FAERS Reports)

Reason # of FDA Reports
1Oral herpes5982
2Product used for unknown indication696
3Chapped lips39
4Aphthous stomatitis36
5Herpes simplex26
6Herpes virus infection11
7Acne10
8Pyrexia9
9Blister7
10Feeling cold7

*Also a top-10 reason in AskaPatient Review Summary.


Types of Adverse Events for ABREVA

Total Reports Filed with FDA: 13403


Number of FDA Adverse Event Reports by Patient Age for ABREVA

Total Reports Filed with FDA: 13403*


* Reports for drugs with the same active ingredients have been aggregated in this analysis: Docosanol (Abreva)

Charts are based on 13403 reports filed with the FDA between 2004 and June 2015.

Adverse Event Reports are submitted to the FDA by pharmaceutical companies (mandatory reporting is required by manufacturers, distributors, or importers), health care providers such as doctors (voluntary reporting), and by patients themselves (voluntary reporting). More Information on FDA MedWatch (FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program)Voluntary reporting takes place under the FDA's MedWatch program, where health care professionals and consumers submit reports to FDA when they find a problem with a drug, medical device, biologic, or other FDA-regulated product. An adverse event is any undesirable experience or extreme side effect associated with the use of a medical product. Adverse events include: death, life threatening event, hospitalization, disability or permanent damage, congenital anomaly or birth defect, medical product use requiring a surgical or other intervention, or other serious medical situation believed to be caused by the drug.

Click to go back to search results and ABREVA Reviews and Review Summary .

Historical Analytics of FDA Adverse Event Reports Provided by Druginformer.com. FDA Drug Safety Information, including safety-related labeling updates, required post-approval safety studies, risk evaluation management strategies (REMS), alerts, and recalls are compiled by AskaPatient.com from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.