Combined drug therapy--cholestyramine and compactin--for familial hypercholesterolemia.

Combined drug therapy with cholestyramine and compactin was found to be extremely effective against heterozygous cases of familial hypercholesterolemia. With a single drug regimen, compactin at a dosage of 15 mg/day produced a cholesterol reduction of 23% (70 mg/dl) in cases of combined hyperlipidemia, while twice the dosage (30 mg/day) was needed to produce a comparable effect with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. When compaction was combined with cholestyramine (in a 4 g dose three times a day), the cholesterol-lowering effect of compactin was strongly improved with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia; half the dosage of compactin was enough to produce the additive effect compared with the effect produced by each single drug regimen.