Why Lovaza?

It never ceases to amaze me what BigPharma gets away with. The recently introduced Lovaza (Omacor) which is a Omega-3-Fatty Ethyl Ester compound manufactured and promoted by GlaxoSmithKline is nothing new to nutritionally minded physicians (but new to traditional MDs) and does it come with a price.

The cost is a whopping $150.80 average retail cost for a month supply with a dose of 2-grams daily (double that for the recommended 4-grams per day regiment). Consider similar pharmaceutical grade fish-oil n-3FA products such as Vita Sanus Opti-EFA where a 2-gram/d regiment would only cost $39.00/month.

From the Lovaza Site http://www.lovaza.com/benefits-of-lovaza/prescription.html :

• LOVAZA uses a 5-step purification process that helps remove mercury and other environmental toxins that can be present in fish oil and ensures reliable concentration of EPA and DHA in every capsule
  
  
• The FDA-approved dose of LOVAZA is 4 capsules per day. It could take up to 14 capsules per day of an omega-3 supplement to provide the same amount of EPA and DHA found in 4 capsules of LOVAZA
  
  

Nice illustration of purification process.... so what. Non-FDA approved pharmaceutical grade n-3FA supplements go through pretty much the same process to detox fish oil of heavy metals and increase the EPA and DHA content. As far as GSK's 14 caps vs 4 caps, that is absolutely false.. with Opti-EFA for example, a 4-gram dose you would only need 8-gel caps compared with 4 of the Lovaza.

By definition pharmaceutical grade:

Pharmaceutical grade fish oil has the following characteristics:

•	Concentration of EPA and DHA > 60%
•	Ratio of EPA/AA > 25:1
•	Concentration of PCBs <>

From http://vitasanus.com/vsn_products/opti_efa.htm


Furthermore given that Lovaza advertises that one gram (one gel cap) has 1 gram of n-3FA and 465 mg of EPA and 375 mg of DHA, the VS Opti-EFA trumps its EFA & DHA content with an equivalent one gram (2-gel caps) equivalent dose having 600 mg of EPA and 400 mg of DHA. All at a much more comfortable cost. You will spend over $150/month for Lovaza when you can spend under $40/month for Opti-EFA or similar brands and get a bigger bang for your buck on DHA/EPA content. Do the math, it is a no brainer.