Sunday Digest: 7/03/2011

So I've found lately that the FDA updates haven't had a lot of interesting material in them lately, but I do get interesting updates all week about all kinds of things, so I'm going to start including some of that in here. The end result (I hope) is that there will be more diversity, interesting and relevant material in the Sunday updates.

Drug Classes: HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors

Used to treat: Primary hypercholesterolemia, mixed dyslipidemia, secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in patients with multiple risk factors

Mechanism of Action: Inhibits the liver enzyme HMG-CoA Reductase, which catalyzes one of the initial steps in the production of cholesterol

Contraindications: Pregnancy, Grapefruit juice use, liver disease, certain antifungals

Lipid Dysfunction: High Cholesterol and Its Effects

High Cholesterol, hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, dyslipidemia - while not completely interchangeable, they're all commonly used to refer to the same problem. High cholesterol, however is actually a misnomer. There are two types of cholesterol, high-density lipoprotien (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (Technically there is a third "very low density lipoprotein," but for the purposes of this discussion, we're going to include them in the LDL). LDL is the "bad" cholesterol and when the doctor refers to patient as having high cholesterol, this is the number that they're worried about. HDL is good cholesterol and doctors typically want this number to be high.

Drug-Food Interactions: The Fact and Fiction of Grapefruit Interactions

Grapefruit seems to be the buzz word now-a-days in the medical world. With evidence that it can cause serious drug-food interactions due to alterations in liver function, experts on both sides are eager to get information out about it. Citrus growers don't want people abandoning their product out of fears of a drug interaction and pharmacists, doctors and drug companies want the correct information out there so that medications are as safe an effective as possible.