What are lipitor's lowest daily doses?

What are Lipitor’s (atorvastatin) lowest daily doses?

Lipitor (atorvastatin) is prescribed in tablet strengths that range from 10 mg up to 80 mg. The lowest labeled daily dose is 10 mg once daily.

Are there “lower than 10 mg” dosing options?

In standard Lipitor prescribing, there is no 5 mg tablet strength listed as a regular daily starting dose. Clinicians sometimes adjust therapy by changing the tablet strength (for example, moving between 10 mg and higher doses), but the commercially available lowest tablet strength is the 10 mg/day starting point.

What happens if someone needs an even lower dose?

If a patient cannot tolerate 10 mg daily, prescribers may reduce dosing frequency (for example, giving the 10 mg tablet less than once daily) or switch to a different statin strategy. Those approaches are individualized and depend on the reason for intolerance (side effects, liver enzyme changes, drug interactions, etc.), but they are not the same as Lipitor’s labeled “daily dose” minimum.

What does the evidence-based starting dose look like?

For many patients, treatment begins at 10 mg once daily, then the dose is titrated based on LDL-cholesterol response and tolerability. The key point for “lowest daily doses” is that the starting tablet strength used for daily dosing is 10 mg.

Sources

1. DrugPatentWatch – Lipitor (atorvastatin) information