Brand-name statins are expensive. Reduced-price generics are available from U.S. pharmacies for all except 2 of the more potent statins—atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor). You can also greatly reduce your costs if you are able to opt for an insurance plan that pays for a large percentage of statin costs. For those who do not have such insurance, the generic products are much less expensive than the brand-name pills.
To make sure you get the generic product, ask your doctor to write the drug's name rather than the trade (brand) name on the prescription—"lovastatin" instead of "Mevacor"; "simvastatin" rather than "Zocor"; and "pravastatin" instead of "Pravachol."
As an example of the price differences, 90 20-mg Pravachol pills cost about $340 at your drugstore compared with about $45 for the same number and size of generic pravastatin pills.
The costs for 90 tablets are nearly identical (about $390) for 20-mg pills of either Lipitor or Crestor, the most potent statin. In addition, the 40-mg pills of each statin cost the same as the 20-mg pills. So, if your doctor wants you to take 20-mg of Zocor or Crestor, you can cut costs in several ways. One approach is to ask your doctor to write a prescription for a 40-mg dose. You can then break the 40-mg pills in half and take half a pill each day. The problem here is that, because the pills are not scored, they are difficult to cut in half, even with a pill splitter. Of course, since the exact daily dose of a statin is not as critical as for some other medications, a somewhat uneven split of the pill would not create any real difficulty.
In fact, another approach—taking a 40-mg pill of either drug every other day—produces nearly the same lowering of LDL cholesterol as taking a 20-mg pill every day. In one study, for example, taking a 20-mg dose every other day lowered the LDL cholesterol by 41 percent, while LDL cholesterol fell only a little more (by 49 percent) with a daily dose of 10 mg. Remembering to take a pill every other day is a little more difficult than remembering to take one every day. To take aspirin on alternate days, I take a pill on odd days of the month and can usually remember the day of the month, but sometimes have to check the newspaper or a calendar.
You can get either generic statins (even atorvastatin and rosuvastatin) or trade-name statins at even lower prices by ordering them online through the Internet. Such drugs, however, are sold by companies located all over the world and so I cannot vouch for the efficacy and safety of the ones manufactured outside the U.S., which do not have to pass inspections by our Food and Drug Administration. Nor can I speak to the legality of purchasing drugs manufactured outside of the U.S.
