Lovastatin: Follow-up Ophthalmologic Data

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Abstract
To the Editor. —About a year ago, we reported in these pages that lovastatin, an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase that is now available for prescription in the United States, was well tolerated and very effective as a lipid-lowering drug.1However, among the 101 patients in our 18-week study, 13 were found to have lens opacities at the poststudy examination that had not been reported at baseline. As we commented in our article, these data were difficult to interpret because of the subjective nature of slit-lamp examination for the detection of small opacities and the fact that all patients took lovastatin at some point during the study, so that there was no parallel control group. We are now able to provide further information. Study. —On completion of the double-blind part of the study, most patients continued taking lovastatin in an open extension of the study, which is ongoing.