[jazzlite]

...“It just turns a lot of healthy people into patients and commits them to a lifetime of medication.”...

Not to mention that unintended consequences, perhaps tragic, will certainly occur, even years later. Just remember that a little poison exists in all medicine and a lot of poison exists in some.

[Rocky]

The best drug in the world for a pharmaceutical company is one that you have to take for the rest of your life. Preventative medicine is money in the bank.

And if you can get the Government to finance it for the customers, so much the better. It’s the pot at the end of the rainbow.

[The Working Man]

Statin drugs are generally safe and they do what they are advertised to do.

With that being said, My father was taking a statin drug and now has permanent leg and hip damage from it and will probably have to start using a wheelchair to get around. He no longer takes it, by the way. My brother was taking a statin drug and he developed some side effects. The nature of which he did not divulge to me. All I know is his Dr. took him off of he drug and said “never again”.

So with a family history being shown, I no longer take a statin either. Instead I do more physical labor than I used to. Eat better and healthier and I am doing fine so far.

So Statin drugs can help but like all drugs need to be monitored quite carefully.

[Paleo Conservative]

It would only make sense when the patents expire and prices decrease.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I’d think that getting all 500 people to take vitamins daily would do as much good.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Then everyone can start on the liver monitoring and enjoy the possible side effects.

[neverdem]

Gene flaw found in induced stem cells

Vitamin B3 beats Big Pharma's Zetia cholesterol drug

A drug that extends life span prevents Alzheimer's deficits (rapamycin)

Bacterial Product Isolated in Soil from Easter Island Rescues Learning, Memory in Alzheimer's Mouse Model

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

I’ve had bad experience with Crestor!

My thighs ached so badly that I was walking like an old man!
Once I was off it, it took 6 months to return to near normal!

Never again will I go on any statin medication! They’re dangerous!

[Ethrane]

“That’s statistically significant but not clinically significant,” said Dr. Steven W. Seiden, a cardiologist in Rockville Centre, N.Y., who is one of many practicing cardiologists closely following the issue. At $3.50 a pill, the cost of prescribing Crestor to 500 people for a year would be $638,000 to prevent one heart attack.

Now, I am a physician, and I understand EXACTLY what the 'numbers crunchers' are saying.

All these numbers aside however, the one thing that bothers ME is that I really don't care what the numbers say, if someone wants to decide that THEY want to bear that cost to lower their risk by whatever amount the medicine provides.

The 'numbers needed to treat' and 'cost to save a life' stuff matters ONLY to those paying that cost; of course, if it's the government paying, they will use this type of data to restrict access...and that is plain wrong.