Citizen Petitions Ask FDA To Promote CoQ10 For Use With StatinDrugs

Citizen Petitions Ask FDA To Promote CoQ10 For Use With StatinDrugs

WASHINGTON--On May 23, two citizen petitions werefiled with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking the agency to issue amedication guide and statin label change to educate consumers about takingcoenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) alongside the prescription medication. According to JulianWhitaker, M.D., who filed the petitions, statin drugs block the endogenousbiosynthesis of CoQ10. "A deficiency of [CoQ10] is associated withimpairment of myocardial function, with liver dysfunction and with myopathids,including cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure," Whitaker wrote.

In the petition, Whitaker added that patients taking statindrugs should be advised to take 100 mg/d to 200 mg/d of CoQ10. Already,Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck & Co. has a patent for combining CoQ10with statins in a prescriptive dose. The petitions were filed byWashington-based Emord & Associates (www.emord.com).