Simcor: A New Cholesterol Lowering Combination Drug On the Horizon

There are a lot of cholesterol-lowering medications on the market, but there isn’t one that has a significant impact on all three aspects of your cholesterol profile (HDL, LDL, and triglycerides). For instance, medications like statins may lower your LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol) by 18% to 65% and your triglycerides by 7 to 30%, but only raise your HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol) by 5% to 15%. On the other hand, medications like niacin may raise your HDL a lot (between 15% to 35%), but lower your LDL by only 5% to 25%. There’s a new medication on the horizon that may greatly hit all three aspects on your cholesterol profile: Simcor.

What Is Simcor?

Simcor is a cholesterol-lowering medication that contains two drugs that have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and have been on the market for a while: extended release nicotinic acid (niacin, Niaspan) and simvastatin (Zocor). According to studies reported in the American Heart Association’s scientific meeting on November 4, 2007, this new drug appears to hold promise in lowering cholesterol levels even more, thus further helping prevent heart disease.

Does Simcor Lower Choleserol?

This study compared doses of Zocor to combinations of Zocor and Niaspan. Over 600 patients with high total cholesterol or LDL levels participated in this study and were divided into two groups: those who took a high dose of Zocor (simvastatin 40 mg) or low dose of Zocor (simvastatin 20 mg). The low dose Zocor group was further divided into individuals taking Zocor alone or along with Niaspan 1000 mg or 2000 mg. Those in the high dose Zocor group received Zocor 40 mg in combination with 1000 mg or 2000 mg of Niaspan, or Zocor 80 mg alone.

The study found that Simcor positively affected all aspects of the lipid profiles of these patients, more so than just taking Zocor alone. Additionally, the low-dose combination of Zocor and Niaspan appeared to work almost just as well as the high-dose combinations of Zocor and Niaspan or high-dose Zocor alone.

The following findings were noted during this study:

• In the low-dose group, LDL was lowered by 23% in individuals taking the Niaspan/Zocor combination (Niaspan 2000 mg/Zocor 20 mg), compared to a 14% decrease seen in the Niaspan 1000 mg/Zocor 20 mg dose and a 7% decrease in individuals taking Zocor (Zocor 20 mg) alone. In the high-dose group, LDL was lowered by 17% in those in the Niaspan 2000 mg/Zocor 40 mg combination group, compared to an 11% decrease noted in the Niaspan 1000 mg/Zocor 40 mg group and a 10% decrease in those only taking 80 mg Zocor alone.
  
• In the low-dose group, HDL was increased by 25% in those taking the Niaspan/Zocor combination (Niaspan 2000 mg/Zocor 20 mg), compared to a 18% increase in HDL found in the Niaspan 1000 mg/Zocor 20 mg combination and a 1% increase in HDL seen in individuals taking Zocor (Zocor 20 mg) alone. In the high-dose group, HDL was increased by 22% in those individuals in the high-dose combination group (Niaspan 2000 mg/Zocor 40 mg), compared to an 11% increase in HDL noted in the Niaspan 1000 mg/Zocor 40 mg group and a 10% increase noted in those only taking Zocor 80mg.
  
• In the low-dose group, triglycerides were reduced by 38% in individuals taking the Niaspan 2000 mg/Zocor 20 mg combination, compared to a 26% decrease in triglycerides found in the Niaspan 1000 mg/Zocor 20 mg combination and a 15% increase in HDL seen in individuals taking Zocor (Zocor 20 mg) alone. In the high-dose group, triglycerides were reduced by 32% in those individuals taking the Niaspan 2000 mg/Zocor 40 mg combination, compared to a 23% decrease in triglycerides noted in the Niaspan 1000 mg/Zocor 40 mg group and a 0.3% increase noted in those only taking Zocor 80 mg.

So, individuals taking the Niaspan/Zocor combination saw a greater improvement in their lipid profiles (decreased LDL and triglycerides and increased HDL) than just taking Zocor alone. Additionally, increasing the doses appear to increase this improvement, but not by much.

Other Information About Simcor

Most patients that took the Niaspan/Zocor combination were able to tolerate it. Six percent of the individuals who participated in this study dropped out of the study was due to the intolerance (flushing, hot flashes) experienced with Niaspan.

Simcor isn’t on the market yet, but Niaspan and Zocor are available by prescription and may be taken together to produce the same effect. The maker of Simcor, Abbott Laboratories, has filed an application with the FDA to market the new drug.

_Sources:

Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (PDF), July 2004, The National Institutes of Heath: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Abbott Official Website. 2007. Available at: http://www.abbott.com/global/url/pressRelease/en_US/60.5:5/Press_Release_0540.htm. Accessed 4 November 2007.