How safe is the combination of simvastatin and phenofibrate?
Simvastatin and fenofibrate are drugs used to treat and improve cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood. In otherwise healthy people, simvastatin and phenofibrate can usually be safely combined, with a low risk of harmful drug interactions. In most cases, however, only one of these drugs is sufficient to return cholesterol levels to normal and their combination is usually not performed. These drugs increase the speed at which the body removes cholesterol from the blood. This is done selectively and in fact, phenofibrate can not only reduce the levels of harmful lipoprotein with low density (LDL), but also increases the level of beneficial lipoprotein with high density (HDL). In addition, this drug lowers blood triglycerides. This medicine is safe for most people, but may have toxic effects in people with liver or kidney disease. In addition, it is not recommended for pregnant or nursing women.
Simvastatin is an also also reducing cholesterol but reduces cholesterol through anothermechanism than phenofibrate. This medicine is one of the types called HMG inhibitors of COA reductase reductase, more often known as statins. Most statins, including simvastatin, reduce LDL cholesterol and blood triglycerides while raising HDL cholesterol levels. Simvastatin can be dangerous for people with kidney or liver disease, diabetes or thyroid disorder, but is safe for most others.
normally prescribes either one of these drugs, but does not prescribe both for one patient. Simvastatin and phenofibrate work in different ways to adjust blood cholesterol, so if a person does not respond well to antilipmic agents such as phenofibrate, her doctor can instead prescribe simvastatin or other statin drugs. It is generally considered to be safe to use simvastatin and fenofibed at the same time if the recommended doses are taken and if the person is generally at timesrém health. However, someone who has a liver or kidney disease could have harmful side effects if both drugs were used. Although it is safe to combine medicines, the most common is that the doctor prescribes statin or an antilipmic agent.
A small number of clinical studies suggest that not only a combination of simvastatin and safe for most people, it may even be beneficial. In two studies published in 2004 and 2005, people were treated by a combination of both drugs that have achieved healthier blood cholesterol levels than people treated with only one drug, suggesting that combined treatment could be effective. These drugs can only be combined only in people with normal liver and kidney function, because toxicity can result if health is at risk of any organ.