Two popular cholesterol drugs may not work

[Guest guest]

Big surprise. But look at what conventional physicians recommend as the

replacement . . .

 

Two popular cholesterol drugs may not work

 

The Associated Press

1:14 AM EST April 1, 2008

Copyright TODAY 2007

 

Leading doctors urged a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for

high cholesterol after hearing full results Sunday of a failed trial of

Vytorin.

Millions of Americans already take the drug or one of its components,

Zetia. But doctors were stunned to learn that Vytorin failed to improve

heart disease even though it worked as intended to reduce three key risk

factors.

 

" People need to turn back to statins, " said Yale University cardiologist

Dr. Harlan Krumholz, referring to Lipitor, Crestor and other widely used

brands. " We know that statins are good drugs. We know that they reduce

risks. "

 

The study was closely watched because Zetia and Vytorin have racked up

$5 billion in sales despite limited proof of benefit. Two Congressional

panels launched probes into why it took drugmakers nearly two years

after the study's completion to release results.

Results were presented at an American College of Cardiology conference

in Chicago Sunday and published on the Internet by the New England

Journal of Medicine.

 

'No result - zilch'

 

Doctors have long focused on lowering LDL or bad cholesterol as a way to

prevent heart disease. Statins like Merck & Co.'s Zocor, which recently

came out in generic form, do this, as do niacin, fibrates and other

medicines.

 

Vytorin, which came out in 2004, combines Zocor with Schering-Plough

Corp.'s Zetia, which went on sale in 2002 and attacks cholesterol in a

different way.

The study tested whether Vytorin was better than Zocor alone at limiting

plaque buildup in the arteries of 720 people with super high cholesterol

because of a gene disorder.

 

The results show the drug had " no result - zilch. In no subgroup, in no

segment, was there any added benefit " for reducing plaque, said Dr. John

Kastelein, the Dutch scientist who led the study.

 

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