- Presented at the American Conference on Pharmacometrics. May 2013
- Joyce S. Macwan(1), Wai-Johnn Sam(1), Reginald Y. Gohh(2) and Fatemeh Akhlaghi(1)
Research
Cardiovascular disorders are the first leading cause of death in the Unites States and a major cause of morbidity in patients with diabetes mellitus, obesity, renal or liver transplantation. 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) class of lipid-lowering drugs are the first choice for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Atorvastatin acid (Lipitor®) is the best-selling statin of all time.
The increasing global burden of heart diseases resulted in extensive use of statin therapy in a diverse patient population. Statin-associated skeletal muscle toxicity is the most common side effect which can progress to life threatening rhabdomyolysis. A meta analysis study reported by the United States FDA indicated three times higher incidence of rhabdomyolysis in patients with diabetes mellitus who received statin therapy. Previously published in vitro and clinical studies identified the role of lactone metabolite in statin-associated myopathy.
Related People: Fatemeh Akhlaghi
(1) Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
(2) Division of Organ Transplantation, Rhode Island Hospital, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island