Patient description: A 54-year-old obese woman admitted to the emergency department with abdominal pain that started 4 days ago with nausea and vomiting. The epigastric pain radiates to the right upper quadrant, getting worse after eating fatty food. The patient experienced similar pain twice in the past year. Her past medical history is remarkable for hypercholesterolemia and 2 NVDs. She has 2 children, and she is menopausal. She does not smoke, drink alcohol, or use illicit drugs. She is mildly febrile. Her BP is 150/85, HR 115, RR 15, T 38.2, SpO2 98% on RA. She is an obese woman with no acute distress. On palpation, she experiences epigastric tenderness and tenderness in the right upper quadrant without rebound. Bowel sounds are normal. Laboratory analysis is remarkable for elevated ESR and leukocytosis with a left shift. The ultrasound revealed several gallstones, biliary sludge and CBD stones. The smallest stone is 14mm.

Clinical trial eligibility criteria: eligible ages (years): 18.0-999.0,  Acute Pancreatitis At least two episodes of acute pancreatitis in the past 12 months; acute pancreatitis is defined any 2 of the following: (1) typical upper abdominal pain; (2) elevation in serum amylase or lipase >= 3 times upper limit of normal; (3) features of acute pancreatitis on cross-sectional imaging Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =< 1 (Karnofsky >= 70%) Leukocytes >= 2,500/microliter Absolute neutrophil count >= 1,500/microliter Platelets >= 100,000/microliter Hemoglobin > 10 g/dL Total bilirubin =< 3.0 x institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase [SGPT]) =< 1.5 x institutional ULN; patients whose AST/ALT levels normalize by screen 2 after an abnormal test will be included in the trial Creatinine < 1.5 mg/dL Women of child-bearing potential must have a confirmed negative pregnancy test result prior to enrollment  Prior or current use of statin medication, or current use of gemfibrozil, cyclosporine, danazol, lomitapide, verapamil, diltiazem, dronedarone, amiodarone, amlodipine, ranolazine, or strong cytochrome P450, family 3, subfamily A, polypeptide 4 (CYP3A4) inhibitors (e.g., itraconazole, ketoconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] protease inhibitors, boceprevir, telaprevir, erythromycin, clarithromycin, telithromycin, nefazodone, or cobicistat-containing products) History of chronic myopathy Current use of any other investigational agents History of adverse effects, intolerance, or allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to simvastatin (i.e., other statin medications) Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding; pregnant women are excluded from this study because simvastatin is a lipid-lowering agent with the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects; because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with simvastatin, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with simvastatin Presence of gallstones and hypertriglyceridemia (level greater than 800 mg/dl) that requires medical or surgical intervention; note: we will patients who had an independent episode of pancreatitis after a cholecystectomy, but patients who are candidates for cholecystectomy History of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (at any time) History of active malignancy in the past 2 years (excluding basal/squamous cell skin cancer or prostate cancer with a Gleason score 6 or less) Known active infection with HIV