High Cholesterol Medications Names

There are different fractions of lipids in your body (that you will have when perform a lipid profile test): LDL, HDL, triglyceride, total cholesterol, etc.

The cholesterol drugs do their job in a different ways, which could affect either the LDL, which is the so-called “bad cholesterol” or they can increase the HDL, also known as “good cholesterol”.

In addition, some of the drugs could slow down the re-absorption of fats or they can increase their metabolism to throw them away faster from the body. These are the most common way for influencing the cholesterol numbers.

The cholesterol medications include :

Statins, which are the most popular cholesterol drugs.

Atorvastatin (Lipitor®),

luvastatin (Lescol®),

lovastatin + niacin (Advicor®)

lovastatin (Mevacor®)

Cholesterol absorption inhibitors have fewer side effects. They reduce the quantity of the absorbed cholesterol. That’s their mechanism of action. Some drugs of this groupare

ezetimibe (Zetia® );

cholestyramine (Questran®, Prevalite®, Locholest® Light)

Colesevelam Hcl (WelChol®)

Fibrates are one of the harmless cholesterol medications:

Gemfibrozil (Lopid®),

fenofibrate (Antara® Lofibra® Tricor®)

clofibrate (Atromid-S)

Omega-3 fatty acids, which are commonly found in the fish meat is really important group of medications that influence the cholesterol metabolism.

Lovaza is one of the best drugs for lowering cholesterol because it decreases the levels of triglycerides. However, fishy taste and increased chance of getting an infection are common when using these drugs.

Niacin(Niacor ®, Niaspan) is also useful as reducement of the cholesterol.

Research have been conducted to come out with new drugs for lowering cholesterol, with greatest profitability and less side effects. Some of them include:

Anacetrapib. Although still in experimental phase (most probably until 2015), it has shown great effects on increasing HDL, and lowering LDL. It inhibits the enzyme CETP, which is important in transforming good cholesterol in the bad one.

This drug is the same group as Torcetrapib, which was produce in 2004, but withdrawn from the market because of high risk for heart disease among those who used it.