statins

[louis]

Good morning and thanks for your time. In your opinion is one statin as good as another? (ie mevachor, zocor, lipitor etc.) or
are there specific instances when one would be better than the other? Also, in your opinion do you regularly prescribe brand name statins, or are generic just the same. Thank you.

[asfhgwt]

Statins are a medical fraud.  A feeble 2% absolute reduction in cardiac deaths -- and these are the *most favorable* results of all the studies.  In some, more people die in the treated group than the non-treated group.  Do not take statins!

[Cleveland Clinic]

inky,

There are alot of proposed differences between the statins.

Atorvastatin and ceruvistatin tend to lower the LDL fraction more then others.

Recent evidence in the REVERSAL trial suggested that high dose atorvastatin compared with standard dose pravistatin had beneficial effects appart from the lipid lowering effects.

Pravastain is metabolized in a mechanism different then the other statins.  So may be beneficial in certain patients.

Although there are proposed differences, there really have never been studies showing differences in outcomes.  So I don't think that my prescribing practices should be regarded as correct versus others.  I usually use wither atorvastatin or pravastatin, some of the decision is determined by what insurance someone has and whether the patient will incur a large out of pocket expense.

The only generic statin that I'm aware of is lovastatin.  I think most generic drugs are equivalent to the brand name counterparts.

good luck