Crestor, the most powerful of the cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, has higher rates of serious adverse effects including, rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle deterioration) and kidney failure, than rival drugs, according to a study published Tuesday in the online journal of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The study is the latest unfavorable report for Crestor, which has […]

Asian American patients taking Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering drug made by AstraZeneca, may be at greater risk of muscle injury because of Crestor than the general public, the Food and Drug Administration warned on Tuesday.
The announcement comes after AstraZeneca revised the package insert for Crestor, advising physicians to consider using lower starting doses of the drug […]

Dr. David Graham, a Food and Drug Administration official, told the Senate Finance Committee last Friday that the FDA would be unable to protect the country from another Vioxx case.
Vioxx was pulled from all worldwide markets by Merck & Company, after a study confirmed that the popular arthritis drug increases a patients’ risk of heart […]

Patients taking the cholesterol drug Crestor have a higher rate of kidney failure or damage than patients taking all other statin drugs (Lipitor, Zocor, Lescol, Pravachol and Mevachor), according to a Public Citizen analysis of government data.
In a press release, Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said that it sent the information on Friday to […]

Public Citizen today called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate Europe’s second-largest drug company AstraZeneca for “illegally delaying the submission of reports of serious adverse reactions to the anti-cholesterol drug Crestor,” the group said in a statement.
“The company delayed the submission to the FDA of 23 such reports, with some delays being […]

Cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor is dangerous and should be taken off the market, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Heath Research Group, wrote in a letter published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.
In the letter, Wolfe, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had evidence before approving Crestor that it caused an increased incidence […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week advised doctors to use caution when prescribing Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering drug made by AstraZeneca.
The FDA Public Health Advisory follows a labeling change in the European Union for Crestor by AstraZeneca. The changes were prompted by recent reports of life-threatening side effects in some patients taking Crestor.
“The new […]

European Union regulators have changed the prescribing rules for Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering drug made by AstraZeneca, following reports of several cases of life-threatening side effects linked to Crestor worldwide.
The changes concern the recommend initial 10 mg dose of Crestor and a restriction on the highest dose of 40 mg, said the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board […]

Public Citizen, a consumer advocate group, has renewed its call for the Food and Drug Administration to ban the anti-cholesterol drug Crestor, citing new cases of patients with life-threatening side effects.
Crestor is the newest drug approved for the treatment of high cholesterol. It is made by the drug maker AstraZeneca and belongs to a group […]

More bad news for patients on the cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor, Medco Health Solutions Inc., a consultant to United Health Care and more than one-third of Fortune 500 companies, did not include the medicine on its recommendation list for reimbursement.
The decision by Medco could mean that companies and insurers won’t pay for Crestor, or that patients […]