Colesevelam is a lipid lowering drug belonging to the bile acid anion-exchange resins group.
There are no trials with results on morbidity and mortality and this drug has not been compared directly with colestyramine and colestipol, although by indirect comparisons, it does not appear to present advantages with regard to efficacy and safety.
In monotherapy, it reduces LDL-c by 15-18%, while colestyramine and colestipol reduce LDL-c by an average of 15-30%. As adjunct therapy to other lipid lowering drugs, it produces an additional reduction of 8-16% of LDL-c.
The most frequent adverse effects are of gastrointestinal origin just like other resins.