Despite Concerns about Side Effects, Crestor the Most Prescribed Drug

Boston, MADespite concerns about Crestor side effects, a recent list of the most prescribed drugs in the US lists the statin as the number one drug. Crestor, and other statins, has been linked to side effects including muscle toxicity (known as rhabdomyolysis). These side effects resulted in Public Citizen writing a letter to the FDA in 2005 to warn about the risk of side effects.

According to IMS (as cited by Medscape; 11/3/14), based on a rolling 12-month history from October 2013 to September 2014, Crestor was the most prescribed medication in the US. Crestor was prescribed 22,279,247 in the 12-month period, just barely beating Synthroid, with 22,258,461 prescriptions. In terms of sales for the period, Crestor was fifth on the list, with sales of more than $5.5 billion. The drug with the highest sales was Abilify with more than $7.5 billion.

Although Crestor is highly prescribed in the US, doctors in the UK are apparently resisting advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) when it comes to statins. According to The Telegraph, Nice recommended statins be given to any patient with a one in 10 chance of developing heart disease in the next 10 years. Those guidelines would mean up to 40 percent of adults, including most seniors over the age of 65, would be put on the drugs.

The Telegraph notes that two-thirds of doctors refuse to take that advice, arguing Nice is too close to the pharmaceutical industry. In a survey published in Pulse magazine, 66 percent of family doctors say they were not following the guidelines published by Nice, despite part of their income being dependent on following Nice’s guidelines.

Concerns about Crestor have been an issue for a decade now, with Public Citizen sending a letter to the US FDA in 2004 concerning the statin. In the letter, the agency notes “seven cases of life-threatening rhabdomyolysis (muscle destruction) and nine cases of kidney failure or kidney damage” linked to Crestor. When the letter was written, Crestor had been on the market for just more than five months.

At the time, Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to remove Crestor from the market. The FDA refused.

Lawsuits have been filed concerning statin side effects. More than 1,100 lawsuits have been filed regarding Lipitor, a drug in the same class as Crestor.