[e-drug] Why is lovastatin not registered in UK?

["Ruwan Chandana" <ruwanprsd@yahoo.com>]

E-DRUG: Why is lovastatin not registered in UK?
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Dear E-druggers,

Can any one of you tell me why lovastatin is no longer appearing in the BNF under statins. Is it because it is inferior in some respect among the other statins? 

In our country lovastatin is usually available in tertiary care government hospitals free of charge to patients where as other statins are available only for a few months/year. Nevertheless most consultants are reluctant to prescribe lovastatin and asks patients to pay for another statin out of the pocket.

Thank you.
 
Dr.Ruwan Chandana
Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology
Dept. of Pharmacology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Ruhuna
Sri Lanka
T.P. +94 77 3750381
ruwanprsd@yahoo.com