Capecitabine, sold under the brand name Xeloda among others, is an anticancer medication used to treat breast cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. For breast cancer it is often used together with docetaxel. It is taken by mouth.

Common side effects include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, and rashes. Other severe side effects include blood clotting problems, allergic reactions, heart problems such as cardiomyopathy, and low blood cell counts. Use during pregnancy may result in harm to the fetus. Capecitabine, inside the body, is converted to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) through which it acts. It belongs to the class of medications known as fluoropyrimidines, which also includes 5-FU and tegafur.

Capecitabine was patented in 1992 and approved for medical use in 1998. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.

Capecitabine is indicated for

Adverse effects by frequency:

Notes on adverse effects:

Contraindications include:

In 2020, the EU and UK license was updated to state that capecitabine was contra-indicated in patients that "have a known complete absence of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) activity". In US, as of 2024, there is no specific contraindication on the package inserts however, there is a cautionary warning: "Patients with certain homozygous or compound heterozygous variants in the DPYD gene are at increased risk for acute early-onset toxicity and serious, including fatal, adverse reactions due to XELODA (e.g., mucositis, diarrhea, neutropenia, and neurotoxicity). XELODA is not recommended for use in patients known to have certain homozygous or compound heterozygous DPYD variants that result in complete absence of DPD activity. Withhold or permanently discontinue based on clinical assessment. No XELODA dose has been proven safe in patients with complete absence of DPD activity. "