Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Pregnancy and Medicines
Some medicines are safe to take during pregnancy, but many are not. If you're pregnant, check with your health care provider before taking any medicine. Some medicines can harm your developing fetus. This includes:
- Prescription drugs
- Over-the-counter medicines
- Herbs and supplements
Always talk to your provider before you stop or start any medicine. You may take medicine to treat a health problem you had before pregnancy. Not using the medicine that you need may be more harmful to you and your fetus than using the medicine. For example, many pregnant women take prescription medicines for health problems like diabetes, asthma, seizures, and heartburn. The decision about whether to take a certain medicine should depend on the risks and benefits that go with it. You and your provider should make this choice together.
If you're pregnant, you shouldn't take regular vitamins. They may have too much or too little of the vitamins you need. For example, everyone needs folic acid, a type of B vitamin. But if you're trying to get pregnant, it's really important. Getting enough folic acid before and during pregnancy can prevent birth defects of the brain or spine. During your prenatal care visits, your provider will talk about prenatal vitamins. These are a special kind of vitamin to take during pregnancy.
Food and Drug Administration
It sits within Pregnancy and Reproduction and Genetics/Birth Defects.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Pregnancy and Medicines
1,313 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Mobile Health Support Before Oocyte Pick-Up in Infertile WomenIstinye University
- Testing the Addition of an Antiangiogenic Drug (Bevacizumab) to Chemotherapy (Carboplatin and Paclitaxel) Combined With Immunotherapy (Pembrolizumab) for pMMR, TP53 Mutated Endometrial CancerNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Testing the Addition of the Immunotherapy Drug Pembrolizumab to the Usual Chemotherapy Treatment (Paclitaxel and Carboplatin) in Stage III-IV or Recurrent Endometrial CancerNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Study of TUB-040 Given With Standard Ovarian Cancer Drugs in Patients With Fast-growing Ovarian CancerTubulis GmbH
- Primary Palliative Care - a Feasibility Cluster TrialUniversity of Coimbra
- Clinical Pre-screening Protocol for Ovarian CancerAllarity Therapeutics
Research already completed
- Effects of Antimuscarinic Drugs on Ejaculation Duration and Refractory Period in Men With Overactive BladderBaşakşehir Çam & Sakura City Hospital
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Medicine and PregnancyFood and Drug Administration
- Medicine and Pregnancy: An OverviewCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Pregnancy and MedicinesDepartment of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health
Treatments and Therapies
- Echinacea and PregnancyOrganization of Teratology Information Specialists
Related Issues
- Prescription Opioids during PregnancyMarch of Dimes Foundation
Statistics and Research
- Pregnancy Exposure RegistriesFood and Drug Administration
- Research on Medicines and PregnancyCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Abnormalities, Drug-Induced. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Pregnancy and Medicines, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.