Baycol RECALL--anti-cholesterol drug linked to deaths

[Bruin4Life]

Hey check your grandparents or any family member's meds if they're taking cholesterol-reducing meds. This medication is widely used and it turns out there's been 52 reported deaths linked to Baycol. The med is also called Cervastatin.

When we become docs., lets not forget to prescribe exercise, diet-changes and other alternatives before we start handing out drugs.

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[Djanaba]

Slow down, there. Yes, the drug has problems. Yes, drugs don't need to be first line. But...

All statins carry similar risks, and its clear from the literature and good practice that the first steps to lowering serum cholesterol and lipids are diet and exercise modifications. Baychol may or may not carry a heavier risk than the other statin drugs, but in either case, all current users of the medication will likely not drop dead before they try to refill their prescription (which they will be unable to do). Also, many pharmacies will contact patients if their prescriptions have been recalled or pulled from the market, and given replacements. Just because one particular drug gets pulled (and not by far the most popular statin, either) doesn't mean we avoid prescription of all non-otc drugs out of hand. Balance and propriety in practice are key.

 

[Bruin4Life]

"Baychol may or may not carry a heavier risk than the other statin drugs, but in either case, all current users of the medication will likely not drop dead before they try to refill their prescription . . . ."

Baycol DOES carry a heavier risk than other statin drugs. Baycol was linked to more cases of rhabdomyolysis than any other statin. Sure people won't fall dead before they switch to a new med; however, as long as there're taking baycol thier muscles will continue to degenerate and their kidney will be working over time trying to filter out free muscle cells.

There's 700,000 people on this medication, many people won't find out until they run out and can't get a refill. Only in a perfect world will pharmacies and doctors reach even half of those 700,000 people to warn them. Sure most people will only take medication for another two to three weeks before they find out when they can't refill, but to me, taking the medication one extra day after the recall is one day too long.

 

[ckent]

Statins on a whole are actually very good drugs. Diet and exercise does very little to effect LDL levels, and diet and exercise can only increase HDL levels by 10-15%. If you have high cholesterol and other risk factors, your chances of dying from a heart attack are much greater then your chances of dying from any statin.