Alternatives to Advicor

Common alternatives to Advicor include lovastatin, niacin, and other cholesterol medicines. Statins like lovastatin are effective in increasing the liver's ability to collect and get rid of LDL cholesterol, increasing HDL cholesterol, and decreasing triglycerides. Other alternatives to Advicor, such as rosuvastatin, fluvastatin, or atorvastatin, are often used instead of lovastatin. Three other major classes of cholesterol medications include bile acid sequestrants, cholesterol absorption inhibitors, and fibrates.

 

Alternatives to Advicor: An Overview

Lifestyle changes are usually the first line of treatment for lowering cholesterol. However, for some people, treating high cholesterol with a low cholesterol diet, weight control, and exercise are not enough. If lifestyle changes alone are not enough, your doctor can prescribe cholesterol medications. One such medicine is Advicor® (niacin extended-release/lovastatin). For most people, Advicor is quite effective in lowering cholesterol. However, Advicor side effects can occur, and people may wish to consider alternative to Advicor. These alternatives could include statins or other cholesterol medicines.
 

Statins and Niacin as Alternatives to Advicor

Advicor is a combination medicine of lovastatin and
 niacin extended-release. Lovastatin is part of a class of drugs called statins. Niacin, or nicotinic acid, is used as a cholesterol-lowering medicine.
 
One alternative to Advicor is taking lovastatin by itself. Lovastatin is available as a generic form(Lovastatin tablets) or under the brand names Mevacor® or Altroprev®. Lovastatin is and other statins work by blocking a particular enzyme (HMG-CoA reductase) that controls the rate of cholesterol production in the body. This causes the liver to make less cholesterol.
 
Statins also:
 
Besides lovastatin, there are several types of statins available that could be considered alternatices to Advicor. These include:
 
Niacin (nicotinic acid) by itself could also be considered a substitute for Advicor. There are a number of different brand name niacin products, including Niacor® and Nicolar®.
 
(Alternatives to Advicor Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;