Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of simvastatin and gemfibrozil in the treatment of hyperlipidaemia.

The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of simvastatin with gemfibrozil in regulating the serum lipid profiles in the local population. In this study, we reviewed the effect of medication on 75 patients with hypercholesterolaemia with or without hypertriglyceridaemia; 26 patients were on simvastatin 10 mg nightly, 24 patients were on gemfibrozil 300 mg twice daily and 25 patients were on gemfibrozil 600 mg twice daily. The average follow-up period was 10.8 weeks, 19.0 weeks and 16.2 weeks for simvastatin 10 mg, gemfibrozil 300 mg and gemfibrozil 600 mg groups respectively. Prior to drug therapy, patients were put on dietary control. The pre-treatment and post-treatment serum lipid profiles were monitored. The mean changes in the lipid profiles of the patients on gemfibrozil 600 mg twice daily were a 21.6% reduction in total cholesterol, a 21.8% reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a 46.3% reduction in serum triglyceride and an 11.2% increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). The patients in all three groups had raised HDL-C and lowered triglyceride levels post-treatment but patients on gemfibrozil had a greater increase in HDL-C and a greater decrease in triglycerides as compared to the simvastatin group. In comparison to gemfibrozil, simvastatin was more efficacious in the reduction of LDL-C. The mean reduction in the LDL-C was 21.8% for gemfibrozil 600 mg twice daily group as compared to 28.0% for simvastatin 10 mg nightly group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)