Health Canada will inform Canadians of a labeling update for all cholesterol-lowering drugs, which are also known as statins, regarding the risk of increased blood sugar levels and a small increased risk of diabetes among patients who are already at risk for the disease.
Healthcare professionals are required to carefully monitor the use of these drugs in patients at a high risk of future diabetes, as per the new labels.
For the six statins that are currently marketed in Canada, a new warning has been added to the drug labels about the increased blood sugar levels and the risk of diabetes, including information on how to identify patients with high-risk.
The statins include atorvastatin (Lipitor and generics), lovastatin (Mevacor and generics), rosuvastatin (Crestor and generics), simvastatin (Zocor and generics), pravastatin (Pravachol and generics), fluvastatin (Lescol and generics).
