Vitamin D Analog side effects compared: 3 drugs, 7,111 FDA adverse event reports
Members
| Drug | FAERS reports | Serious | Death outcome | Boxed warning | Top labeled signals | Unlabeled (unassessed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calcipotriene | 3,501 | 40% | 66 | – | Skin lesion | Skin exfoliation; Abdominal discomfort |
| Calcipotriene | 3,231 | 58% | 115 | – | Skin lesion; Skin disorder; Folliculitis | Skin exfoliation; Cellulitis |
| Calcipotriene | 379 | 72% | 12 | – | Skin lesion | – |
Class-wide signals (flagged in at least 2 of 3 members)
| Reaction | Members flagged | Median PRR | Reports (sum) | In label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psoriasis | 3/3 | 34.1 | 1,501 | 0/3 members' labels |
| Psoriatic arthropathy | 3/3 | 20.5 | 283 | 0/3 members' labels |
| Skin lesion | 3/3 | 10.0 | 91 | 3/3 members' labels |
| Skin haemorrhage | 3/3 | 9.9 | 47 | 0/3 members' labels |
| Skin fissures | 3/3 | 8.3 | 60 | 0/3 members' labels |
| Pain of skin | 2/3 | 16.6 | 48 | 0/2 members' labels |
| Squamous cell carcinoma | 2/3 | 10.3 | 31 | 0/2 members' labels |
| Skin exfoliation | 2/3 | 7.2 | 193 | 0/2 members' labels |
| Basal cell carcinoma | 2/3 | 6.6 | 33 | 0/2 members' labels |
| Upper respiratory tract infection | 2/3 | 4.3 | 63 | 0/2 members' labels |
| Hepatic cirrhosis | 2/3 | 4.0 | 24 | 0/2 members' labels |
Member-specific signals (flagged in exactly one drug)
No strong single-member signals (n ≥ 50) in this class.
Common questions
Which vitamin d analog has the most FDA adverse event reports?
Calcipotriene has the most FAERS co-reports in this class (3,501), followed by Calcipotriene (3,231). Report volume tracks how widely and how long a drug has been used, and how much attention it has had, far more than its risk.
Which side effects are shared across vitamin d analog drugs?
Reaction terms flagged in at least half of the 3 members include psoriasis, psoriatic arthropathy, skin lesion, skin haemorrhage, skin fissures. A term shared across a class usually reflects the shared mechanism (or the shared patient population) rather than one product.
Does a FAERS signal mean the drug causes the reaction?
No. These are disproportionality signals from voluntary reports with no denominator. Each is screened against the FDA label (known vs unlabeled) on the drug pages; causality needs temporality, dose-response, plausibility and trial or cohort evidence.
Sources: openFDA FAERS pair statistics (OpenPV build 2026-09-14), FDA labels via openFDA, seriousness and death counts from openFDA count queries. Generated 2026-10-08. Not medical advice.