Zetia is manufactured by both Merck and Schering-Plough.
This medication has been licensed to treat several conditions, such as:
- High cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia), used either alone or in combination with other cholesterol medications
- A rare genetic condition called sitosterolemia.
Zetia is part of a class of drugs called cholesterol absorption inhibitors.
It works in the digestive tract by blocking the absorption of cholesterol from things that you eat. It is unique in that it works just at the "brush border" of the small intestine. Because less cholesterol is delivered from the digestive tract to the liver (which depletes the liver's stores of cholesterol), the liver reacts by taking cholesterol out from the blood, helping to
reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.
Because of the drug's effects, the following forms of cholesterol and fats are decreased:
The medication has little effect on
HDL cholesterol ("good" cholesterol) by itself.
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