Pharmacy on Web

19 March 2009

The Lipex brand will be switched over to Arrow-Simva (Arrow pharmaceuticals) from 1 March 2009. However most community pharmacies will continued to dispense Lipex until the part charges come into effect from 1 May 2009. Lipex is generically known as simvastatin which is a cholesterol lowering medicine. Lipex is a household name in New Zealand and is manufactured by Merck Sharpe & Dohme.

The same company also produces Zocor which is a global brand and was initially fully subsidised in NZ but cost cutting has allow Pharmac to negotiate with Merck to rebrand Zocor in NZ has Lipex.
The long term availability of Lipex after May 2009 is not known as it becomes a non-subsidised brand of Simvastatin.
Please contact the Pharmac help line 0800 66 0050 for more information. alternatively you can emailed them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with questions and queries.
Pharmac has issue a consumer products information sheet with regards to this Simvastatin brand switch.