Livalo, A new kid on the block
[milly I don't know] On August third, 2010, the FDA approved pitavastatin (Livalo). This medicine appears to rely less on the usual liver enzymes that your body uses to remove medicines. An advantage? I think so. What this means is that for people who take more pills (patients with more complicated pill burden), and complex problems like diabetes, this new medicine may offer some unique benefits.
Having said this, the medicine is very new and approval was based on five studies. At present, there are no data to say that this medecine helps prevent a heart attack (like Crestor or Lipitor). While it is intuitive that a medicine in this family would halp prevent a heart attack, stroke or bad leg circulation, well-designed studies are just not available yet.
Some medicines to be careful with:
Cyclosporine, a medicine to help prevent transplant rejection: pitavastatin can be increased by nearly 5 times
Erythromycin, an antibiotic: pitavastatin can be increased by nearly 3 times
Gemfibrozil, a medicine to lower triglycerides and increase HDL: pitavastatin can be increased by 45%.
These drug interactions DO NOT mean that this is a bad medicine, just that you need to call your doctor and ask what to do if some other doctor wants you to start one of these medicines and you already take pitavastatin. The simple step to take is usually just to decrease the pitavastatin dose, but talk to your doctor first!
Approval Date:
Tue, 08/03/2010
Company:
Kowa and comarketed with Lilly