Pharmacokinetic drug–drug interactions between 1,4-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers and statins: factors determining interaction strength and relevant clinical risk management

Yi-Ting Zhou,1 Lu-Shan Yu,2 Su Zeng,2 Yu-Wen Huang,1 Hui-Min Xu,1 Quan Zhou11Department of Pharmacy, the Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, 2Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Drug Metabolism, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of ChinaBackground: Coadministration of 1,4-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (DHP-CCBs) with statins (or 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A [HMG-CoA] reductase inhibitors) is common for patients with hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. To reduce the risk of myopathy, in 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Drug Safety Communication set a new dose limitation for simvastatin, for patients taking simvastatin concomitantly with amlodipine. However, there is no such dose limitation for atorvastatin for patients receiving amlodipine. The combination pill formulation of amlodipine/atorvastatin is available on the market. There been no systematic review of the pharmacokinetic drug–drug interaction (DDI) profile of DHP-CCBs with statins, the underlying mechanisms for DDIs of different degree, or the corresponding management of clinical risk.Methods: The relevant literature was identified by performing a PubMed search, covering the period from January 1987 to September 2013. Studies in the field of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics that described DDIs between DHP-CCB and statin or that directly compared the degree of DDIs associated with cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A4-metabolized statins or DHP-CCBs were included. The full text of each article was critically reviewed, and data interpretation was performed.Results: There were three circumstances related to pharmacokinetic DDIs in the combined use of DHP-CCB and statin: 1) statin is comedicated as the precipitant drug (pravastatin–nimodipine and lovastatin–nicardipine); 2) statin is comedicated as the object drug (isradipine–lovastatin, lacidipine&