My drug plan

[MT10149]

My prescription drug plan wants me to talk to my doctor about alternatives to Lipitor. I have been taking Lipitor for quite awhile and it does a good job on LDL. But it is expensive (I pay a $30 copayment every month).

According to the flyer I got, there are alternatives that would do the same thing for the generic co pay ($5). The ones they have listed are Simvastatin, Lovastatin, and Pravastatin.

I dont have any side effects with Lipitor. IS the flyer correct that I can get same lipid numbers with generics? Is thier an increase chance of side effects if I change statins?

Thanks Mark

[Lenin]

What most Lipitor users are doing this year is switching to simvastatin becasue it has just gone generic and the price is falling rapidly. It WAS the brand named ZOCOR as of last year when it came off patent and is a very effective statin. As a rule of thumb, 2 mg. simvastatin is about as strong as 1 mg. Lipitor (atorvastatin) so if you are taking 20 mg. Lipitor, you'll get almost the same response with 40 mg. simvastatin. Lipitor's patent won't expire til 2010 go generic atorvastatin is a while off.

I wouldn't consider the other choices (pravastatin or lovastatin) because they are much weaker than the simvastatin.

When I go onto Medicare in not too distant future , I plan on making the switch too.

[Connie122516]

I wanted to echo what Lenin said...try simvastatin (Zocor). If you can get the same effect with it as Lipitor, you will be fine (I couldn't, however...we tried Zocor first and had to switch to Lipitor).

If you find yourself in the same boat as I did, you may have to return to the Lipitor...does your plan have a "pharmacy by mail" option where you can get 3 mos of meds at a time? If so, you might be able to save some $$$...I get 3 mos of Lipitor for 2 co-pays instead of 3.