Grapefruit juice and some statins do not mix, say British regulators

Main Category: Statins
Article Date: 02 Nov 2004 - 15:00 PDT

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The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says that certain cholesterol lowering drugs (statins), when taken with grapefruit juice can raise the patient's risk of muscle toxicity.

The MHRA said this was especially so with Zocor (simvastatin), of Merck & Co and Lipitor, of Pfizer.

There is a liver enzyme which is crucial for drug metabolism. Grapefruit juice suppresses the activity of this enzyme. If you drink grapefruit juice regularly, there is a risk that you will have raised levels of the statin in your bloodstream.

The MHRA said there is no significant risk with other statins such as Lescol (Novartis), Pravachol (Bristol Myers Squibb) and Crestor.(AstrraZeneca).