Cerivastatin was marketed by the pharmaceutical company Bayer A.G. in the late 1990s as a new synthetic statin, to compete with Pfizer's highly successful Lipitor®.

During post-marketing surveillance, 52 deaths were reported in patients using cerivastatin, mainly from rhabdomyolysis and its resultant renal failure. Risks were higher in patients using fibrates (mainly gemfibrozil/Lopid®) and in patients using the high (0.8 mg/day) dose of cerivastatin. Another 385 nonfatal cases of rhabdomyolysis were reported. This put the risk of this (rare) complication at 5-10 times that of the other statins.

In 2001, Bayer announced the voluntary withdrawal of the drug from the market.

References

• Furberg CD, Pitt B. Withdrawal of cerivastatin from the world market. Curr Control Trials Cardiovasc Med 2001;2:205-207. PMID 11806796.
• World Health Organization - Alert: Voluntary withdrawal of Cerivastatin – Reports of Rhabdomyolysis.