Zocor Leads to Chemical Injury in Patient’s Muscles

The FDA warned consumers and the medical community this week about the risk of muscle damage and rhabdomyolysis from highest doses of the cholesterol drug simvastatin. In June 2011, the FDA issued a warning to doctors about potential side effects of Zocor when used at high doses (80 mg), saying that the cholesterol drug may increase the risk of muscle injury or myopathy. The warning came after more than a year of FDA experts reviewing clinical trials on Zocor and other drugs containing simvastatin, which had been available to the manufacturers for some time. Zocor muscle injury side effects

80mg Zocor Linked to Liver Damage In FDA Warning

Statin drugs have been linked to diabetes and muscle injury in many recent studies. European researchers report that high-dose regimens of a class of drugs known as statins, such as Zocor may be linked to the onset of diabetes in rare cases, although the drugs do lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. The results of the study were published online in June by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Zocor has also been linked to muscle injury and Zocor liver damage. The researchers looked at five studies involving a total of 32,752 subjects. All were given statin-based cholesterol drugs, but half were given high doses of about 80 mg per day and the other half were given lower doses of 20 to 40 mg per day for an average of about five years. They found that more participants given high doses developed diabetes than those who were given lower doses.  Patients taking 80mg dose Zocor are more likey to experience myopothy, or Zocor rhabdomyolysis as well.