Purified talc powder
Talc is a mineral composed primarily of magnesium, silicon and oxygen.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Official medicine documents
Yellow Card
Report side effects (MHRA)
Drug safety updates
MHRA alerts for Talc
Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
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Report a side effect
Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
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Browse substances A–Z in the European adverse reaction database
About EudraVigilance
Learn about EU pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring
EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
3 branded products available
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(2)
InterDry for intertrigo (MIB192)
Lung cancer: diagnosis and management (NG122)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 8 · Randomised trials: 9 · 1982–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Rajesh Thomas, Edward Fysh, Nicola Smith, et al.
JAMA, 2017
- Catheters, Indwelling
- Mesothelioma, Malignant
- Breast Neoplasms
Rahul Bhatnagar, Hania Piotrowska, Magda Laskawiec-Szkonter, et al.
JAMA, 2019
- Drainage
- Talc
- Thoracoscopy
Helen Davies, Eleanor Mishra, Brennan C Kahan, et al.
JAMA, 2012
- Catheterization
- Catheters, Indwelling
- Drainage
Robert C. Rintoul, Andrew J. Ritchie, John Edwards, et al.
The Lancet, 2014
- Mesothelioma, Malignant
- Costs and Cost Analysis
- Lung Neoplasms
Huan Xia, Xiaojuan Wang, Qiong Zhou, et al.
PLoS ONE, 2014
- Risk
- Talc
- Models, Statistical
Seyyedsalehi MS, Powley WA, Boffetta P
2026
Seyyedsalehi MS, Powley WA, Boffetta P
2026
Peter Zimmer, Mark Hill, Kenneth R. Casey, et al.
CHEST Journal, 1997
- Antibiotics, Antineoplastic
- Bleomycin
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
W. Berge, K. Mundt, H. Luu, et al.
European Journal of Cancer Prevention, 2017
Sujoy Paul, Sourya Roy, Amit K. Roy–Chowdhury
Lecture notes in computer science, 2018
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
Not available
Mechanism
It has very good absorptive properties.
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
None mapped
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
Half-life
Protein binding
Volume of distribution
Metabolism
Elimination
Clearance
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Although talc has been widely used for decades, lawsuits that have come to the surface claim serious health complications linked to its use. In fact, recent studies have reported that talc increases the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers by approximately 30 percent.
Known interactions with other medicines. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 57 interactions
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
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Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Talc
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite:
- DrugBank 6.02024Recommended citationKnox C., Wilson M., Klinger C.M., et alDrugBank 6.0: the DrugBank Knowledgebase for 2024Nucleic Acids Res. 2024 Jan 552(D1):D1265-D1275
- DrugBank 5.02018Wishart D.S., Feunang Y.D., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Nov 846(D1):D1074-D1082
- DrugBank 4.02014Law V., Knox C., Djoumbou Y., et alDrugBank 4.0: shedding new light on drug metabolismNucleic Acids Res. 2014 Jan 142(1):D1091-7
- DrugBank 3.02011Knox C., Law V., Jewison T., et alDrugBank 3.0: a comprehensive resource for 'omics' research on drugsNucleic Acids Res. 2011 Jan39(Database issue):D1035-41
- DrugBank 2.02008Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a knowledgebase for drugs, drug actions and drug targets.Nucleic Acids Research2008 Jan36(Database issue):D901-6
- DrugBank 1.02006Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a comprehensive resource for in silico drug discovery and exploration.Nucleic Acids Research2006 Jan 134(Database issue):D668-72