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About Welchol
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Make Welchol Your First-Choice Add-On Therapy
Welchol® is the first and only therapy approved, as adjunct to diet and exercise, to reduce both A1C and LDL-C in adult patients with Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and primary hyperlipidemia. The once-daily dosing convenience of Welchol delivers efficacy without being systemically absorbed.
Significant A1C reductions
- Additional 0.6% placebo-adjusted mean reduction in A1C in adult patients when added to metformin combination therapy1,2
Significant LDL-C reductions
- 42% mean LDL-C reduction from baseline in adult patients when added to simvastatin 10 mg2,3 (T2DM was not an inclusion criterion for this study.)
More reasons to prescribe
- Not systemically absorbed2
- In clinical trials, the incidence of hypoglycemia was similar between Welchol and placebo groups (3.0% vs 2.3%)2
- Not associated with weight gain2
Flexible dosing options
- Oral suspension: 3.75 g single-dose packet taken with a meal
- 625 mg tablets taken 3 tablets twice a day or 6 tablets once a day with a meal and liquid
Please see Important Safety Information about Welchol below
Indications
Welchol is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise in adults to:
- reduce elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in patients with primary hyperlipidemia (Fredrickson Type IIa) as monotherapy or in combination with an hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme (HMG CoA) reductase inhibitor (statin)
- improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Welchol is indicated to reduce LDL-C levels in boys and postmenarchal girls, 10 to 17 years of age, with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia as monotherapy or in combination with a statin after failing an adequate trial of diet therapy and the following findings are present:
- LDL-C remains ≥190 mg/dL or
- LDL-C remains ≥160 mg/dL and:
- there is a positive family history of premature cardiovascular disease or
- two or more other CVD risk factors are present in the pediatric patient
Important Limitations of Use
- Welchol should not be used for the treatment of type 1 diabetes or for the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis
- Welchol has not been studied in type 2 diabetes as monotherapy or in combination with a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor and has not been extensively studied in combination with thiazolidinediones
- Welchol has not been studied in Fredrickson Type I, III, IV, and V dyslipidemias
- Welchol has not been studied in children younger than 10 years of age or in premenarchal girls
Click here for pediatric dosing & administration.
Contraindications
Welchol is contraindicated in patients with:
- A history of bowel obstruction
- Serum TG concentrations >500 mg/dL
- A history of hypertriglyceridemia-induced pancreatitis
Efficacy
Learn more about the efficacy of Welchol
Safety
Learn more about the safety profile for Welchol
