Zocor is available as a generic drug called simvastatin. Lipitor is available as a generic drug called atorvastatin.
What is a substitute for simvastatin?
There are many non-statin medications your doctor might prescribe: Bile acid-binding resins, like cholestyramine (Locholest, Prevalite, Questran), colesevelam (WelChol) , and colestipol (Colestid) stick to cholesterol-rich bile acids in your intestines and lower your LDL levels.
Are simvastatin and rosuvastatin the same?
Crestor, which is the brand name for rosuvastatin, and simvastatin are both cholesterol-lowering drugs . They belong to a group of drugs called statins. They can help to slow or even prevent the buildup of plaque.
Which statins are the cheapest?
- Lipitor (atorvastatin)$18.47. ...
- Zocor (simvastatin)$9.48. ...
- Flolipid (simvastatin)$9.48. ...
- Crestor (rosuvastatin)$11.07. ...
- Pravachol (pravastatin)$21.75. ...
- lovastatin$15.11. ...
- Livalo$335.27. ...
- fluvastatin$50.05.
Which is better simvastatin or rosuvastatin?
Rarely, both drugs may cause liver, muscle, and kidney damage. Aside from being better at lowering so-called “bad” cholesterol levels in the bloodstream, another advantage to rosuvastatin is that it has far fewer negative interactions with other medications than simvastatin, or most other statins, for that matter.
Do statins make you age faster?
Statins do have side effects , all medication does to some extent. And some of those side effects reported could also be deemed to be signs of premature aging. Memory loss and weakness or fatigue are both listed under ‘uncommon side effects’ on the NHS website.
Why you should never take statins?
Very rarely, statins can cause life-threatening muscle damage called rhabdomyolysis (rab-doe-my-OL-ih-sis). Rhabdomyolysis can cause severe muscle pain, liver damage, kidney failure and death. The risk of very serious side effects is extremely low, and calculated in a few cases per million people taking statins.
Is rosuvastatin bad for kidneys?
Long-term administration of rosuvastatin and other statins have been shown not to be associated with any decline in renal function , but instead have been shown to produce modest but clear improvement in glomerular filtration rate.
Which statin has the least amount of side effects?
In the analysis of 135 previous studies, which included nearly 250,000 people combined, researchers found that the drugs simvastatin (Zocor) and pravastatin (Pravachol) had the fewest side effects in this class of medications. They also found that lower doses produced fewer side effects in general.
Which is the best statin drug?
Statins lower cholesterol levels through inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase. The synthetic and natural statins have essentially equivalent efficacy at improving the lipid profile. However, in patients who do not achieve their LDL goals, atorvastatin and simvastatin may be the best choices for initial therapy.
Can I buy statins over the counter?
Can I buy statins over the counter? Low-dose statins are available at some pharmacies without a prescription , but they are not a substitute for prescription statins or for making lifestyle changes to reduce your cholesterol level. If you are at high risk of heart disease, your doctor may prescribe a statin for you.
Is atorvastatin cheaper than simvastatin?
The costs of generic simvastatin and atorvastatin are both fairly low , with generic simvastatin being slightly less expensive. It comes in at about $10–15 per month. Atorvastatin is usually $25–40 per month. The brand-name drugs are much more expensive than their generics.
Which cholesterol drug is safest?
Still, all in all, the statins are the safest and best tolerated of all cholesterol-lowering medications.
What happens if I stop taking rosuvastatin?
You will not get any withdrawal symptoms. But stopping rosuvastatin may cause your cholesterol to rise . This increases your risk of heart attacks and strokes. If you want to stop taking your medicine, it’s important to find another way to lower your cholesterol.
What is the strongest statin?
Rosuvastatin and atorvastatin are the strongest statins because they have long half-lives. – Atorvastatin, simvastatin, and lovastatin are metabolized by the P450 cytochrome 3A4, which is inhibited by many other drugs and may thereby increase the risk of myopathy.
Why was Crestor taken off the market?
As you are aware, on March 4th of this year, we petitioned the FDA to ban the recently-marketed cholesterol-lowering drug rosuvastatin (Crestor/AstraZeneca) because of seven post-marketing cases of life-threatening rhabdomyolysis and nine cases of renal failure or renal insufficiency , both of which problems had also ...
