What You Need to Know About Zocor
What is Zocor?
Zocor is a brand name of simvastatin, a drug used to control elevated blood cholesterol levels and to treat cardiovascular disease. Zocor is sold in the United States by Merck and Co., Inc.1
Does Zocor work?
A long-term study of more than 4,000 patients in Sweden showed that simvastatin increased survival among patients with high cholesterol and heart disease. The study determined that long-term simvastatin treatment was safe and improved survival for patients with coronary heart disease.2
What should I ask my doctor about before I decide to take Zocor?
Zocor has some side effects, the worst of which is a muscle-weakening condition called myopathy, in which the muscle fibers just don’t work. Older patients and women are more predisposed to myopathy. All statin drugs may cause myopathy. Higher doses of Zocor can cause a condition called Rhabdomyolysis, which is the most serious form of myopathy and can lead to severe kidney damage, kidney failure, and sometimes death.
3
The FDA has recommended cutting the highest dose of Zocor in half, from 80 milligrams to 40 milligrams.4
Zocor may also react badly with a long list of other medications, including drugs to treat HIV and some antibiotics.5
What can I do if I am worried about Zocor?
Always talk to your doctor before stopping any prescription medication. The FDA has recommended that patients not reduce their own dose of Zocor but speak to their doctor first.6 Some medications may be dangerous to stop taking suddenly or cause withdrawal symptoms and your doctor needs complete information on your medications In order to treat you.
Learn everything that you can about Zocor before you start taking it.
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1 http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/z/zocor/zocor_pi.pdf
2 Lancet, “Randomised trial of cholesterol lowering in 4444 patients with coronary heart disease: the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S),” (19 November 1994), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7968073?dopt=Abstract; Am J Cardiol, Pedersen TR, et al., “Follow-up study of patients randomized in the Scandinavian simvastatin survival study (4S) of cholesterol lowering,” (1 August 2000), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10922429?dopt=Abstract
3 Food and Drug Administration, “FDA Warns about increased Risk of Muscle Injury with Zocor,” (19 March 2010), http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm205215.htm
4 Food and Drug Administration, “FDA Drug Safety Communication: New Restrictions, contraindications, and dose limitations for Zocor (simvastatin) to reduce the risk of muscle injury,” (8 June 2011), http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm257884.htm
5 Food and Drug Administration, “FDA Drug Safety Communication: New restrictions, contraindications, and dose limitations for Zocor (simvastatin) to reduce the risk of muscle injury,” (8 June 2011) http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm256581.htm#aihp
6 Ibid.