# Haloperidol

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/haloperidol/  
OnCo record `haloperidol` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Haloperidol is an antipsychotic medicine used in small doses in palliative care for nausea and vomiting, especially when the bowel is blocked.

## Summary

The US label covers psychotic disorders, Tourette's disorder and severe behaviour problems in children. MASCC 2022 suggests haloperidol "may be an effective anti-emetic in MBO, particularly for complete MBO" (level IV, grade B), and MASCC/ESMO 2016 names it as an alternative to metoclopramide for nausea in advanced cancer and as the antiemetic to give alongside octreotide in bowel obstruction. The antiemetic use is off-label. The first Haldol NDA was approved on 18 May 1971.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-11-11
- Tags: supportive; generic; supportive-care-gaps-2026-11
- Brand: Haldol
- Modality: Butyrophenone antipsychotic, used as an antiemetic
- Mechanism: A butyrophenone dopamine antagonist.
- Approvals: US 1971: Psychotic disorders; Tourette's disorder; severe behaviour problems in children

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haloperidol
- US label (DailyMed): haloperidol tablets: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=00bb61c8-db35-4c04-9ef7-47d447d2496b
- Davis et al., MASCC recommendations for the management of malignant bowel obstruction in advanced cancer (Support Care Cancer 2022): https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-022-06889-8
- Walsh et al., 2016 updated MASCC/ESMO consensus recommendations: management of nausea and vomiting in advanced cancer (Support Care Cancer 2017): https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3371-3

## Connected records

- drugs: [Hyoscine (scopolamine): butylbromide and hydrobromide](https://onco.cc/drugs/hyoscine/), [Levomepromazine](https://onco.cc/drugs/levomepromazine/), [Metoclopramide](https://onco.cc/drugs/metoclopramide/)
- technologies: [Antiemetics for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting](https://onco.cc/technologies/antiemetic-therapy/), [Early integrated palliative care](https://onco.cc/technologies/palliative-care/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/haloperidol.json