Heart care drug banned in US on sale in India

new delhi: this medicine has been linked to the death of 52 patients in the us and europe, forcing the company to withdraw it from these markets. but it's freely available in india. cerivastatin is a cholestrol lowering drug, and if you go to your neighbourhood chemist it's freely available under the brand names, lipobay and seriva. drug controller of india ashwini kumar told times news network that the company manufacturing lipobay has already told the dci office that they would withdraw the product.and another company is being asked by dci to do so. however, a random check with the chemists revealed the drugs were not just freely available but that the company had launched a scheme for providing a free strip of lipobay. all india medicos, a south delhi chemist, offered 10 free tablets with 30 tablets of lipobay. cardiologists here have not received any formal communication of the safety risks of the drugs. cardiologist at escorts hospital, dr ravi r kasliwal, said it was possible that several specialists were still unaware of its risks. although he added that this was a relatively new drug and experienced cardiologists would wait for sometime before they start administering it to patients, specially when time-tested drugs were available. the drug has been in the market since 1997 and is said to lower cholestrol, the substance that deposits in the inner walls of the arteries as plaque and leads to coronary heart disease. the drug works by blocking the action of an enzyme called hmg-coa reductase. however, in this process, it can at times start destroying the muscles of the body and lead to a condition known as rhabdomyolysis. "the fatal cases were seen most often when the drug was used at higher doses in elderly patients and in combination with another fat-lowering drug. the fatal cases were seen most often when the drug was used at higher doses," the authoritative medical journal, lancet, stated in its recent issue. the drug is a recent addition to the long list of statins, that experts here say have revolutionalised heart care. and while these experts affirm that all the other statins are absolutely safe, lancet, raises concerns of safety and also of improving warning labels on other drugs in the same category. even though the food and drug administration of the us has said that million taking statins should not panic, a european medicines evaluation agency in london has already announced that it will conduct a safety review of other statins, lancet reported. secretary-general saarc cardiac society upendra kaul, who has been prescribing statins to his patients says the panic should not spread to the use of other statin. "these drugs have clearly revolutionalised heart treatment. the earlier statins such as lovstatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin and pravastatin have a long and good track record. most patients of ischaemic heart disease should be on these," he recommends. drugs banned in the us but used commonly here: phenylpropylamine (commonly known as ppa): decongestant in nasal drops and cough syrups. it can lead to severe hypertension. cisapride: used for irritable bowel syndrome. it can lead to cardiac arrythmias.