Lovastatin and Cyclosporine Interaction
Drug interaction information between Lovastatin and Cyclosporine.
Lovastatin and Cyclosporine have a documented moderate interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a moderate-severity interaction between Lovastatin and Cyclosporine. Major interactions are generally avoided, moderate ones may need monitoring or a dose adjustment, and minor ones are usually low-risk. This page shows the documented mechanism and guidance. Label-documented interactions are not a complete safety review, so always confirm your own medications with a pharmacist or doctor. Educational information, not medical advice.
How They Interact
Cyclosporine interferes with how your body handles lovastatin, leading to higher amounts of the drug in your system. This increases the chance of developing severe muscle problems.
What To Do
Your doctor should monitor you closely and will likely need to use a lower dose of lovastatin. Report any new muscle pain or dark-colored urine to your provider.
FDA Label Information
Gemfibrozil Other fibrates Niacin (nicotinic acid) (≥ 1 g/day) Other Drug Interactions Cyclosporine The risk of myopathy/rhabdomyolysis is increased by concomitant administration of cyclosporine (see WARNINGS , Myopathy/Rhabdomyolysis ).
Lovastatin Also Interacts With
- Darunavir major
- Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir major
- Spironolactone moderate
- Ketoconazole moderate
- Verapamil moderate
Cyclosporine Also Interacts With
- Clarithromycin major
- Ezetimibe major
- Ezetimibe/Simvastatin major
- Pitavastatin major
- Simvastatin major
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Lovastatin and Cyclosporine together?
This is a moderate interaction. Your doctor should monitor you closely and will likely need to use a lower dose of lovastatin. Report any new muscle pain or dark-colored urine to your provider.
How serious is the interaction between Lovastatin and Cyclosporine?
This interaction is classified as "moderate" severity by the FDA. Moderate interactions may worsen your condition or change how your medications work.
Why do Lovastatin and Cyclosporine interact?
Cyclosporine interferes with how your body handles lovastatin, leading to higher amounts of the drug in your system. This increases the chance of developing severe muscle problems.
Understanding the Lovastatin and Cyclosporine Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a moderate-severity interaction. Lovastatin belongs to the HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin) class and Cyclosporine belongs to the Calcineurin Inhibitor (Immunosuppressant) class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Cyclosporine interferes with how your body handles lovastatin, leading to higher amounts of the drug in your system. Severity tiers matter: major flags generally advise avoidance, moderate flags often require monitoring or dose adjustment, and minor flags may only call for awareness.
Context around a specific patient determines real-world impact. Lovastatin has 30 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Cyclosporine has 89. Each additional medication compounds the interaction surface, which is why pharmacists run full-profile checks rather than evaluating one pair at a time. FDA-derived guidance for this pair is: Your doctor should monitor you closely and will likely need to use a lower dose of lovastatin. Timing of doses, renal and hepatic function, age, and other concurrent prescriptions all shape whether a labeled interaction matters clinically.
An interaction flag is not a verdict. A large share of labeled interactions are managed routinely in clinical practice, the fix may be as simple as spacing doses or adding a monitoring test. Others require the prescriber to choose a different medication entirely. This page surfaces FDA-sourced labeling and openFDA data for educational purposes only; it is not medical advice and cannot account for your full clinical picture. Never start, stop, or adjust either Lovastatin or Cyclosporine based on a web page, speak with your prescriber or pharmacist before making any change.
Sources: FDA Drug Labels (SPL) via openFDA (2026). This is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider about drug interactions.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.