Does Clarithromycin Interact With Lovastatin?

This combination is contraindicated on the FDA label. Do not take these together unless your prescriber explicitly directs it.

Interactions like this one can happen when two medicines have overlapping effects, or when one changes how the other is absorbed, broken down, or cleared from the body. Clarithromycin is a macrolide antibiotic and Lovastatin is a hmg-coa reductase inhibitor (statin); together they are documented as a contraindicated interaction. How much this matters depends on your dose, your other medications, and your overall health.

If you have been prescribed both Clarithromycin and Lovastatin, do not start, stop, or change either medication on your own — some medicines are unsafe to stop suddenly. Tell your prescriber and pharmacist that you take both so they can decide whether the combination is right for you, adjust the dose, monitor you more closely, or suggest an alternative.

Concomitant administration with strong CYP3A4 inhibitors (e.g., itraconazole, ketoconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole, HIV protease inhibitors, boceprevir, telaprevir, erythromycin, clarithromycin, telithromycin, nefazodone and cobicistat-containing products) (see WARNINGS , Myopathy/Rhabdomyolysis ).

Source: FDA structured product labeling (set_id 027bd594-6a0a-4e6d-bd3c-4f33fdb4166a).