More Patients, More Crestor Side Effects

With the Food and Drug Administration’s statement that Crestor could be used in an increased number of patients as it had been previously, February 2010 became a dangerous starting point for dozens of Crestor side effects. While the drug had previously only been approved for use in patients who had been diagnosed with heart disease, the FDA suddenly allowed doctors to prescribe certain patients – males over 50 and females over 60 – with only an apparent risk of heart disease the statin drug.
A number of patients who had not previously been eligible to take Crestor and other statin drugs were now taking them – and furthermore, a number of patients were now experiencing side effects of Crestor when, without the medication, they would never have been at risk. Cardiomyopathy, kidney injury, muscle injury, and Crestor diabetes have all been linked to the drug, and have affected many
statin patients over the years, some of whom may not even have needed their prescription. Although statin drugs are some of the most effective cholesterol-lowering products on the market, some medical experts see the associated risks as too high to really consider the drug useful.
A study was conducted by drugmaker AstraZeneca, called JUPITER or Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin that tested 18,000 people with no history of heart disease, but with elevated cholesterol levels. It was during this study that it was discovered that out of the patients evaluated, there was a 27 percent higher rate of diabetes than would be expected in people not on this medication.
Because of the side effects associated with the drug and the question of whether or not statins should be used on patients without a history of heart disease, the JUPITER study raised a significant amount of controversy in the medical world. Another side effect of both the study and the side effects associated with Crestor and other statins is that many Crestor patients are seeking legal advice and ways to file a Crestor lawsuit in order to gain compensation for costs such as medical bills they have incurred while suffering from Crestor side effects.