Simvastatin: Review of Updates on Recent Trends in Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, Drug–drug Interaction, Impurities and Analytical Methods

Simvastatin, is a lipid regulating drug, which is a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), obtained by synthesis from lovastatin. It is indicated in the treatment of hyperlipidemias, including hypercholesterolaemias, combined mixed hyperlipidemia hyperlipoproteinemias, hypertriglyceridemia, and primary dysbetalipoproteinemia. This review describes a brief overview of the chemistry including impurities and different synthetic schemes, pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and adverse effect of simvastatin as well as the recent trends in drug–drug interaction studies of simvastatin with various drug categories such as antibacterials, anticoagulants, antidepressants, antifungals, antivirals, calcium-channel blockers, immunosuppressants, lipid regulating drugs and grapefruit juice. This review also focuses distinctly on comprehensive update of various analytical methods for the quantification of simvastatin and/or its metabolites, impurities, degradants and other drugs. Keywords: Analytical methods, impurities, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and simvastatin, hypercholesterolaemias, immunosuppressants, degradants, antifungals, antidepressants