Groups want cholesterol guidelines probe

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Thursday, September 23, 2004 ·

 

Groups want cholesterol guidelines probe

 

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

A consumer group and 35 doctors and scientists asked the federal

government Thursday to convene an independent review of the science

that led to new guidelines urging wider use of cholesterol-lowering

statin drugs.

 

In a letter to National Institutes of Health director Dr. Elias

Zerhouni and other officials, the writers say there isn't enough

evidence to justify the recommendations, especially for women, older

people and diabetics.

 

The guidelines - issued in July by a nine-member panel convened by the

American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the

government - would add 7 million Americans to the 36 million already

taking statin drugs, the top-selling class of medications in the nation.

 

Days later, a consumer group, the Center for Science in the Public

Interest, said the rules were tainted because eight of the nine

panelists had financial deals with makers of the drugs.

 

Government officials did not immediately return phone calls after

business hours, but defended the guidelines as based on solid science

when the conflict of interest charges first surfaced.

 

The letter's signers include Dr. David Brown, director of cardiology

at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York; women's health expert and

breast cancer surgeon Dr. Susan Love; Dr. Philip Lee, a professor

emeritus at Stanford University; and two researchers from Great

Britain, which recently allowed statin drugs to be sold over the counter.