Researchers estimate more than 11 million older Americans may be newly eligible for statin therapy if findings from a recently published large clinical trial are adopted into clinical practice guidelines, according to a new analysis of the trial data. The analysis is published online in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Using data from the 1999–2004 [...]
Controversy over the aggressive new cholesterol guidelines for kids. Can this open the door to a new demographic for Pharma? I stand in awe. Despite admitting “not ‘a whole lot’ of data on pediatric use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, recent research showed that the drugs were generally safe for children” and that “average total cholesterol levels [...]
When did they start testing kids for high cholesterol? Is it becoming a routine part of pediatric exams since kids are getting fatter? I haven’t a clue, but it is certainly a wake up call. I have an ongoing battle with my doctor because of my own cholesterol. She looks at the “bad” stuff; I [...]
A great deal of scientific evidence shows that cholesterol-reducing medications known as statins can help prevent coronary artery disease. Although the safety of these medications has been well documented, as many as 40 percent of patients who receive a prescription for statins take the drug for less than one year. Doctors believe that several factors [...]
Skin Cholesterol Test PreMD has received a non-substantially equivalent (NSE) letter from FDA regarding the 510(k) submission for an expanded regulatory claim on its point-of-care (POC) skin cholesterol test. The company expects to evaluate its options as part of the plans to address this issue. "We are very disappointed with this decision by the FDA [...]
People need to eat healthy food and maintain a healthy diet because if the cholesterol level is low it may increase the risk of dementia and is linked to memory loss. Low levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) – the “good” cholesterol – in middle age may increase the risk of memory loss and lead to [...]
Study results show the effects of the combination cholesterol-lowering medicine ezetimibe and simvastatin (Vytorin) on aortic stenosis and coronary heart disease in 1873 patients. These results raised questions about the combination drug, and a subsequent meta-analysis of this and two larger, on-going studies was also reported. Reducing cholesterol is critical for treating coronary heart disease [...]
Commonly used cholesterol-fighting drugs called statins may protect against dementia and memory loss. “After accounting for other key predictors of dementia, we found that statin users were about half as likely to develop dementia as those who did not take them,” said study author Mary N. Haan, DrPH, with the University of Michigan School of [...]
If you are a reader of this blog, you will know that I am no fan of Vytorin. Despite their massive marketing campaign, Merk-Schering has failed to prove why treating the “two sources of cholesterol” has any benefit to just treating patients with a statin. Both the ENHANCE study and SEAS studies (the only outcomes [...]
It was previously thought that cholesterol-lowering drugs – statins – increase cancer risk, but this new large study says that statins neither increase, nor decrease cancer risk. A year ago a team of researchers from Tufts Medical Center in Boston analyzed 13 studies involving participants taking statins. They reported that people taking statins for lowering [...]
