Statin Drug Helps Aging With HIV

[+ Lucky]

If you could tolerate it...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/10/health/hiv-aging-statins.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Health

[Rudynate]

What Im not understanding is why that's a surprise.  After ART became available, there was a lot of speculation that HIV-infected indivinduals would age differently and that the degenerative diseases that people tend to get with aging would be more severe or would run their courses more quickly in people having HIV.  AFAIK, this has turned out to be a non-issue.  I have a POZ friend who is 92 - he does have severe peripheral neuropathy as a result of the anti-virals, but otherwise about as healthy as any 92-yo has any reason to expect. My husband is POZ and is healthy as an ox.  He has been taking atorvastatin for years. Apparently, there is a potential for interaction between anti-virals and Crestor, so he has to take the Lipitor.  But otherwise-he is a cornfed midwesterner with health to match.

[+ Lucky]

Not all statins have this benefit. According to this study, pitavastatin calcium is the one that helps fight for aging Hivers.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Lucky said:

Not all statins have this benefit. According to this study, pitavastatin calcium is the one that helps fight for aging Hivers.

??? To which head-to-head study are you referring??? I agree with @Rudynate. The surprise would be if it were shown that statins didn't work for those with HIV. Multiple studies across the globe have consistently shown that statins' efficacy relates pretty directly to how well that statin lowers LDL-C. What would be an even bigger surprise would be if it could be shown that one statin works for people with HIV, but the others don't. Pitavastatin exemplifies a "me too" drug, which isn't even as potent as some other statins. The only advantage pitavastatin ever even implied was that it may have lower rates of muscle aches than other statins. Certainly it's not more efficacious than other statins. I prescribed statins for probably hundreds of patients. Although some had muscle aches on other statins, I never came across anyone who couldn't tolerate 2.5 mg of rosuvastatin, the most potent statin. If he couldn't tolerate 2.5 mg of rosuvastatin, I suppose that would be the one patient I might try on pitavastatin. 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Unicorn

[+ Lucky]

The study upon which the NY Times article is based is poorly cited. The article says only, in blue line print- "a recent study."

But when you click on that link, you see the study and that it is about a singular statin- pitavastatin calcium.

[+ nycman]

3 hours ago, Lucky said:

But when you click on that link, you see the study and that it is about a singular statin- pitavastatin calcium.

That’s a long way from…..

9 hours ago, Lucky said:

Not all statins have this benefit.

It would be better to say "no other statin has been proven to have this benefit (because they weren’t included in the study)".

Given the history of statins and how similar they are, I’d be shocked if they don’t all show this benefit.
And given the history of pitavastatin, I’d put big money on some of them turning out to be even better than pitavastatin. 

I can’t see behind the NYTimes paywall, but I assume they’re talking about this recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2304146
Look at who sponsored the study. From the above NEJM article:
"Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Gilead Sciences, and ViiV Healthcare."

From the Pitavastatin Wikipedia page:
"Kowa Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Kowa Company, is the owner of the American patent to pitavastatin."

I’m surprised the NEJM even published this, but I assume they thought the concept was important despite the obvious bias. 

 

[Guest]

This sounds like a preposterous attempt to get some people to believe only one statin would work for those with HIV. I can't imagine that any physician or nurse practitioner would believe that. Pitavastatin, which has never been a popular medication, since there are better and less expensive alternatives, is the last patented statin, and its patent runs out 2/2/24. 

US market share:

Edited September 12, 2023 by Unicorn