Simvastatin

• You may know this drug as: Lipex®, Simcard®, Simlup®, Simvacor®, Vytorin®
• Why it's commonly used: Simvastatin is widely prescribed by doctors to lower cholesterol and to help prevent heart attacks, strokes, and other serious cardiac problems.
• Side effects: Muscle pain and damage
• What you can do: Knowing your genetic risk of side effects allows you and your doctor to choose the right drugs or dose for you, and opt for alternatives if needed.
• Did you know? Your risk of side effects tends to increase with higher doses of this drug.

Navigenics tests for a genetic variation that increases the odds of simvastatin-induced myopathy. This variation may also be related to side effect risks for other types of statins other than simvastatin, although this connection is not as well-established.

According to studies, if doctors choose not to prescribe simvastatin to people with one or two copies of the genetic risk variant covered by the Navigenics analysis, the risk of serious side effects can be reduced by 60 percent.