No Good News For Vytorin or Zetia

 

Today the official results of the ENHANCE trial were finally presented, simultaneously, at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Chicago, and in print in the New England Journal of Medicine. While some were half expecting the sponsors to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute, and show that Vytorin actually does provide some measurable benefit to patients with high cholesterol levels, that did not happen.

There were no surprises of note.

As I have previously described, despite the significant reduction in LDL cholesterol in study patients who took Vytorin (a combination of ezetimibe and simvastatin) as compared to patients who took generic simvastatin alone, there was no benefit in the endpoint measured. (That endpoint, a measure of wall thickness in the carotid artery, generally reflects the amount of coronary artery disease that is present.) There appears to be no benefit to taking Vytorin (or its cousin, Zetia, which consists of just ezetimibe) instead of a statin alone.

Indeed, the fact that carotid artery wall thickness actually increased more in patients taking Vytorin than those taking simvastatin alone (though the difference was not statistically significant) raises at least the possibility that Vytorin and Zetia ought to be avoided unless they are really necessary to achieve target cholesterol levels.

No Good News For Vytorin or Zetia

 

Technorati Tags: Zetia,Vytorin,CHD

Anti-cholesterol drugs may damage cellular power station

Certain cholesterol-reducing drugs appear to damage mitochondria, the tiny power stations inside living cells.

Aches and cramps

When the researchers tested various statins, which are widely prescribed for lowering cholesterol levels in the blood by inhibiting a key enzyme involved in cholesterol synthesis, they found that three of them - fluvastatin, lovastatin and simvastatin - were toxic towards mitochondria. 'Patients have reported muscle aches and cramps as a side effect of some statins and this could be one reason,' Mootha told Chemistry World. 'This clinical hypothesis could have huge implications worldwide.' 

Tags: mitochondria, fluvastatin, lovastatin, simvastatin

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Blue Gene: Omega-3 fatty acids and cholesterol

Blue Gene: Omega-3 fatty acids and cholesterol

Omega-3 Fatty acids and cholesterol
Omega-3 fatty acids and cholesterol are as important to diet and health as they are for understanding disease. They play essential roles in many of the most critical processes in biology. To better enable studies of how membrane proteins are affected by the membrane environment, the Blue Gene science team investigated a mixture of cholesterol and omega-3 fatty acids via atomic-level simulation with Blue Matter. These studies could provide new insights into understanding why cholesterol has a stiffening effect on cell membranes.

http://domino.watson.ibm.com/comm/pr.nsf/pages/rscd.bluegene-picac.html/$FILE/omega.jpg

The "Plavix Rebound" Phenomenon

 

In monitoring 3137 patients who received Plavix after being treated for ACS, the authors of this new study say that the patients' chance of having a heart attack or dying was nearly twice as high during the 90 days after Plavix was stopped, than it was after this 90-day interval. They speculate that perhaps tapering Plavix instead of stopping it abruptly, or perhaps increasing the dose of aspirin during the first 90 days after stopping Plavix, may help to reduce this rebound effect - but of course, more studies will need to be done to see whether either of these strategies are effective

The "Plavix Rebound" Phenomenon

Technorati Tags: Plavix,Heart Disease

Cardiovascular disease to become leading cause of death worldwide by 2020 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

 

While the mortality from atherosclerotic conditions, such as coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke has declined by approximately 60% over the past 30 years, CHD remains the single largest killer of Americans. When considered separate from other cardiovascular diseases, heart disease and stroke still represent the first and third leading causes of death, respectively, among men and women in the US. In developed countries, cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for nearly 50% of all deaths, and within the next 15-20 years, cardiovascular disease is projected to surpass infectious diseases to become the leading cause of death worldwide

Cardiovascular disease to become leading cause of death worldwide by 2020 - Pharmaceutical Business Review

Zocor, Simvastatin Found to Disrupt Sleep Due to Fat Soluble Characteristic of Lipophilic Statins

 

“The results showed that simvastatin use was associated with significantly worse sleep quality. A significantly greater number of individuals taking simvastatin reported sleep problems than those taking either pravastain or the placebo,” Golomb said.

Zocor, Simvastatin Found to Disrupt Sleep Due to Fat Soluble Characteristic of Lipophilic Statins

The Daily Bruin - Ultrafine particles in emissions found to cause heart disease

 

Air pollution has been suggested as a risk factor for developing heart disease for several years, but a new UCLA study has found ultrafine particles from vehicle emissions that may lead to heart attack or stroke.

The Daily Bruin - Ultrafine particles in emissions found to cause heart disease

 

Technorati Tags: Ultrafine Particles,heart disease,Air pollution