Effects of treatment with a commercially available St John's Wort product (Movina) on cholesterol levels in patients with hypercholesterolemia treated with simvastatin.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of treatment with a St John's Wort product (Movina) on cholesterol levels (total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol) in patients with hypercholesterolemia on treatment with a stable dose of simvastatin.

METHODS

Controlled, randomized, open, crossover pharmacodynamic study.

METHODS

Two primary healthcare centres. Intervention. Patients were treated with Movina one tablet (containing 300 mg of Hypericum perforatum) twice daily and control (a commercially available multivitamin tablet, Vitamineral). The trial started with a run-in period of 4 weeks. Then the treatment order between control and active treatment was decided (randomization using sealed envelopes). The duration of each treatment period was 4 weeks and simvastatin treatment was kept unchanged during the whole study period (12 weeks).

METHODS

Twenty-four patients with hypercholesterolemia treated with a stable dose of simvastatin (10-40 mg daily) for at least three months.

METHODS

Assessments of total cholesterol, HDL- cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides were performed in the morning with the patients in a fasting condition.

RESULTS

All patients completed the study. LDL-cholesterol was significantly increased during active treatment compared with control. Thus, the mean LDL-cholesterol after 4 weeks' active treatment was 2.72 mmol/L compared with 2.30 mmol/L after treatment with control (p <0.0001). An increase in total-cholesterol was also observed (5.08 mmol/L compared with 4.56 mmol/L, p <0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Products containing St John's Wort should not be given to patients with hypercholesterolemia who are on treatment with simvastatin.