A 70 year old man walks into the pharmacy with two boxes of pills he had received from the doctor’s clinic a few weeks ago. As they were about to run out, he wanted to obtain more of these drugs. One box contained amlodipine 10 mg and the other box contained simvastatin 40 mg.

a) Regarding simvastatin he wants to know:

i) What was it for? (1 mark)

ii) When to take it? (1 mark)

iii) Whether he can take it intermittently? (1 mark)

iv) The important adverse effects? (2 marks)

b) Regarding amlodipine, he wants to know:

i) What was it for? (1 mark)

ii) When to take it? (1 mark)

iii) Whether he can take it intermittently? (1 mark)

iv) The important adverse effects? (2 marks)

c) Would amlodipine affect his heart rate? (1 mark)

d) When he is taking amlodipine and simvastatin, which TWO things need to be monitored periodically? (2 marks)

e) How might amlodipine and simvastatin interact with each other? (2 marks)

f) Name ONE serious consequence of this drug-drug interaction. (1 mark)

g) In view of potential drug-drug interaction between the two drugs, what FOUR options can a doctor offer to the patient? (4 marks)