Lipid and transaminase concentrations after formulary conversion of Niaspan to Slo-Niacin

Abstract

Formulary conversion from Niaspan to Slo-Niacin resulted in a small but significant increase in HDL cholesterol concentration and no significant change in ALT or AST level.

Niacin inhibits fat accumulation, oxidative stress, and inflammatory cytokine IL-8 in cultured hepatocytes: Impact on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

“…However, several studies have shown that modest increase in glucose level in niacin treated patients could be easily counteracted by adjusting the diet, exercise, and antidiabetic medications (reviewed in [54,57]). Hepatotoxicity, as assessed by elevations in transaminases, in some patients is another adverse event seen in patients taking niacin [53,58,59]. Although increased levels of alanine aminotransferase and/or aspartate aminotransferase were observed in some patients taking higher concentrations of niacin as compared to placebo, the levels of these enzymes were not greater than 3 times the upper limit in majority of the patients [57,60].…”

Efficacy and Safety Evaluation of a Large Niacin Therapeutic Interchange Program

“…31, 32 Our findings regarding the efficacy and safety of Slo-Niacin generally confirm those reported by Byrd and Mowrey (2010) resulting from their retrospective efficacy and safety analysis of 1172 patients converted from Niaspan to Slo-Niacin. 33 In that study, mean AST, ALT, LDL-C, and triglyceride levels were not significantly altered following conversion to Slo-Niacin; however, there was a small but statistically significant increase in HDL-C (42.4 to 44.4; p < 0.05). Patients who had changes in concomitant lipid-lowering therapy during the course of evaluation were not excluded from study and mean duration of therapy was not report- ed.…”