eDrugSearch Blog » Crestor

Cholesterol Medication Rundown

Cary Byrd — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:33:11 +0000

A healthy lifestyle is the first and most important way to win the battle against cholesterol, but for some it’s just not enough. Many who diet and exercise still find themselves in a fight against cholesterol, and prescription medication may be the way to best combat high cholesterol.

Cholesterol medications help by decreasing your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) aka the “bad” cholesterol that increases the risk of heart disease, decreasing your triglycerides which is the fat in the blood that also increases the risk of heart disease, or by increasing your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) aka the “good” cholesterol that protects from heart disease.

Depending on what your body needs most to lower your cholesterol, your doctor may prescribe one drug or a combination of several different drugs to help lower your cholesterol. Here is a quick overview of some of the drugs you may be prescribed, there benefits and some side effects to look out for.

Statins

Crestor, Lescol, Zocor, Mevacor, Pravachol, Lipitor, Altoprev all belong in the class of drugs called statins. Statins slightly increase HDL, and decrease triglycerides as well as LDL. Some possible side effects to look out for are constipation, nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, cramps, and muscle soreness.

Bile acid binding resins

Colestid, Questran, and Welchol are all considered bile acid binding resins. These drugs only decrease LDL. Some possible side effects are constipation, nausea, and a possible increase triglycerides.

Cholesterol absorption inhibitors

Zetia is known as a cholesterol absorption inhibitor. Zetia decreases LDL, slightly decreases triglycerides, and also slightly increases HDL. Stomach pain and fatigue are the most common side effects associated with Zetia.

Combination cholesterol absorption inhibitor and statin

Vytorin is known as a combination cholesterol absorption inhibitor and statin and decreases both LDL and triglycerides, while increasing HDL. Some common side effects are stomach pain, fatigue, constipation, cramps, muscle soreness.

Fibrates

Fibrates such as Lofibra, Lopid, and TriCor decrease triglycerides and increase HDL. Common side effects include nausea, stomach pain, and gallstones.

Combination statin and niacin

Some drugs like Advicor are combination drugs which combine two or more other types of cholesterol fighting medications. The combination of statin and niacin decreases LDL and triglycerides while increasing HDL. Some common side effects are dizziness, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, and chills.

Niacin

Niaspan is classified under the drug class of Niacin and is known for decreasing both LDL and triglycerides, and increasing HDL. Some common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, gout, high blood sugar, and peptic ulcers.

No matter what cholesterol medicine your doctor determines is right for you, be sure you know what side effects coincide with each drug and the warning signs you should be on the look out for. Be aware that if you are prescribed a statin or a combo drug that includes a statin, you should avoid consuming grapefruit juice.

If you would like to safely buy your cholesterol medication much cheaper than at your corner pharmacy, be sure to join eDrugSearch.com and start saving today.

FDA Shoots Down New Combo Heart Drug

Cary Byrd — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:03:19 +0000

Today in London the FDA decided to postpone approval of a new experimental heart drug, seeking more information about the new product.

The drug called Certriad, combines AstraZeneca’s blockbuster cholesterol pill Crestor with Abbott Laboratories TriLipix.

According to Rueters,

The manufacturers said on Tuesday they had received a so-called “complete response letter” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Certriad, which combines Astra’s blockbuster cholesterol pill Crestor and Abbott’s TriLipix.

Both companies said they were evaluating the letter from the agency and would respond to the request for additional information. An AstraZeneca spokesman declined to give further details.

Combo pills are fairly common for heart drugs, and most thought that FDA approval was a given. Merck merged Zocor and Zetia to form Vytorin, and soon they plan to combine Zetia with Pfizer’s Lipitor.

Combo pills are also fairly common in diabetes drugs. For example Januvia, Avandia,and Actos are all available as combo product with generic versions Glucophage.

In typical big pharma fashion, Astra did not disclose what the FDA has a problem with, but many analysts have voiced concern that Certraid does not have enough backing to pass FDA approval after the results from a clinical study this month showed there was no real benefit from adding TriLipix to Crestor.

“C-reactive protein”: soon, the world will know your name (thanks to Crestor)

Cary Byrd — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:27:48 +0000

Yeah, I know: you’ve never heard of “C-reactive protein” (CRP) as an indicator of heart disease, just like you’d never heard of restless leg syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome or a host of other ailments before they were heralded in pharmaceutical company commercials 24-7. But soon, you’ll know all about C-reactive protein — and why if your CRP levels are high, you need to take Crestor.

Crestor is a statin prescribed to people with high cholesterol levels. But now a new study (funded by the maker of Crestor) says the drug is also therapeutic for patients whose cholesterol isn’t high, but who have high levels of C-reactive protein, which indicates inflammation in the body. The study says Crestor can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by half among individuals with this indicator.

Doctors and other experts have two concerns about the study: (1) it was funded by AstraZeneca, Crestor’s manufacturer, and (2) it could dramatically increase the number of patients who are prescribed Crestor, increasing U.S. healthcare costs by as much at $10 billion per year.

Here’s our advice: wait for more studies.

In the meantime, you should educate yourself about CRP with this information from the American Heart Association.

Lipitor: 50 million prescriptions can’t be wrong, right?

Cary Byrd — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:46:04 +0000

Lipitor was the most frequently prescribed brand-name drug in the United States last year, with 50 million prescriptions being filled. Vytorin was right up there, with 20 million. Add in all the other statins and you’re up to an amazing 150 million.

As you might expect, we’ve had a fair amount of discussion in the eDrugSearch.com Community about statin drugs, which are used for the treatment of high cholesterol. People are most interested in understanding and comparing the benefits of Lipitor, Zocor and Crestor. Zocor is currently available in generic form in the U.S., but the other two drugs are not.

Vytorin, of course, is on the outs these days after research showed in January that this combination drug (essentially a combination of Zocor and Zetia) is no more effective than generic Zocor alone (simvastin).

One juicy morsel in John McCain’s recently released medical records is that he switched from Vytorin to simvastin after the study came out.

So, of the statins, should you go with Lipitor, Zocor or Crestor? As always, the reaction of individuals to different treatments varies widely, so what often happens is a doctor starts you on one, and if it’s ineffective or you experience side effects, he switches you to another.

Dr. Nicholas Browning provides a nice overview of the benefits of statins in this column in The Union newspaper of Grass Valley, Calif. A recent Houston Chronicle column, however, focuses more on the side effects of these drugs — principally muscle pain and weakness — and says that doctors too often downplay these negatives.

Although your doctor should help you decide which statin to try first, Crestor has been shown to be the most effective statin for lowering LDL cholesterol, followed by Lipitor and then Zocor. However, the side effects for Crestor may be more pronounced in some patients.

Unfortunately, even though your doctor may wish to put you on Crestor or Lipitor, insurance companies often push doctors hard to prescribe generics. We encourage you to use the best drug for you.

Lipitor approved for new uses

Cary Byrd — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:43:34 +0000

Pfizer has received approval to sell the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, its number-one seller, under five new categories. According to reports, Lipitor

is now recommended for use in patients at high risk for cardiovascular conditions because of prior MI, heart surgery, or chest pain with evidence of atherosclerosis and to reduce the risk of non-fatal heart attacks and strokes.

The expanded label for the world’s top-selling prescription drug will also now include its approval for use in reducing the risks of hospitalization for heart failure. Lipitor is the first cholesterol-lowering drug to win approval for reducing such risks.

The approval comes as a result of a five-year study, ‘”Treating to New Targets (TNT),” involving 10,000 patients with heart disease and elevated LDL levels which compared Lipitor at its lowest and highest doses. It was found that patients taking 80 mg of Lipitor had a significant 22% reduction in the risk of major cardiovascular events compared with patients taking 10 mg. It was also found that the patients on the higher dose of Lipitor had a significant 26% reduction in the risk of hospitalization for heart failure.