Colestipol: a review of its pharmacological properties and therapeutic efficacy in patients with hypercholesterolaemia

Abstract

Colestipol is an anion exchange resin with bile acid sequestering properties resembling those of cholestyramine, another lipid-lowering binding resin. In daily doses of 15 to 30g colestipol reduces total plasma cholesterol concentrations (primarily low density lipoprotein cholesterol) by about 15 to 30%, but plasma triglyceride concentrations may be unchanged or in some patients increased. Thus, like cholestyramine, colestipol is of benefit in patients with primary hypercholesterolaemia without associated hypertriglyceridaemia (type IIa hyperlipoproteinaemia). Colestipol is odourless and tasteless, and is said by some to be more readily tolerated by patients than cholestyramine, leading to improved compliance, but such data has not been documented in most studies. Side effects of colestipol treatment are primarily gastrointestinal in nature since the drug is essentially unabsorbed. As with cholestyramine, colestipol may bind with other concomitantly administered drugs reducing their absorption or enterohepatic recirculation; dosage intervals of other concurrent medications should be adjusted to minimise the potential for such an interaction.