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Changing Statin

Why we want to change your statin from Simvastatin to Atorvastatin?

If you have receiving a text message or letter from Park Medical Centre recently with respect to changing your statin medication this was from us and not a scam or spam.

You are on a statin to reduce your future risk of heart attacks and strokes and also to lower your cholesterol. Statins do this by lowering your cholesterol but also helping your body clean the linings of your arteries.

Simvastatin was one of the first statins but there are now many more. Atorvastatin is the preferred choice by the NHS for several reasons:

  1. As it is now ‘off-patent’ it is affordable although it is more expensive for the NHS than Simvastatin. This is not a change based on giving you the best we can, it is not about saving money.
  2. Atorvastatin works for much longer than Simvastatin; it has a longer ‘half-life’
  3. Atorvastatin appears to be more effective than Simvastatin at lowering LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol)
  4. Atorvastatin has a lower risk of side effects compared to Simvastatin; such as muscle pain and drug interactions

For this reason we want to change your Simvastatin to Atorvastatin. The dosages may be different because Atorvastatin is more effective than Simvastatin.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of this please call the surgery to discuss with a clinician.