Merck Drug for Cutting Cholesterol Is Promising

NY Times ^ | November 17, 2010 | NATASHA SINGER

[neverdem]

Merck has a potential blockbuster in anacetrapib, an experimental cholesterol drug that increases HDL, or “good” cholesterol even as it lowers LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.

The drug could potentially have sales of more than $1 billion a year, John Boris, an analyst at Citigroup, wrote in a note to investors on Wednesday.

But don’t hold your breath. Cardiologists, patients and investors will have to wait until at least 2015 to find out whether anacetrapib protects the heart by reducing heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems, Merck said.

Anacetrapib works by inhibiting an enzyme called CETP, which is involved in transforming particles of good cholesterol into bad cholesterol.

According to a new study of 1,623 patients who were already taking statins to control their cholesterol, patients in a group taking anacetrapib had a 39.8 percent reduction in bad cholesterol beyond that seen in the placebo group. More strikingly, the anacetrapib group also had a 138.1 percent increase in good cholesterol, according to the study, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. That is promising in theory, physicians said, because epidemiological studies — the kind that look at the incidence of a disease among a population — have reported an association between high levels of good cholesterol and a reduced risk of heart problems.

But the real impact of anacetrapib on heart health will not be known until researchers conduct a much larger study looking into whether the drug can reduce the risk of heart attacks, coronary deaths and other heart problems, said Dr. Luciano Rossetti, the head of global scientific strategy at Merck Research Laboratories.

The results “are promising and reassuring, but not conclusive,” Dr. Rossetti said in a phone interview. “That is why we are going forward with 30,000 patients in a very large outcomes trial.”...

[neverdem]

Safety of Anacetrapib in Patients with or at High Risk for Coronary Heart Disease

[ReneeLynn]

If Obamacare isn’t stopped we won’t find out at all. Only Congresspeople and exemptions will benefit.

[BiggieLittle]

and reporters in the lamestream media, and gay activists, and minorities, and illegal aliens, and people from the Upper West Side of Manhattan and San Francisco.

[EGPWS]

Soon to be the hottest item traded on the market.....exceptions.

[GailA]

Obamacare and Taxes: The Final Tab (ATR.org)
link

Not to be forgotten, this part of the Stimulus bill that CONTROLs doctors has to be removed too!

Dr. David Janda explains rationing and why
Link

Obamacare Endgame: Doctors Will be Fined or Jailed if they Put Patients First by Dr. Elaina George
LINK

Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan
LINK

Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research Membership Recovery Act Allocates $1.1 Billion for Comparative Effectiveness Research
LINK

OBAMACARE’S LETHAL THIRD RAIL SHOCK TO COME
LINK

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[jla]

What about a proper diet and exercise?

[LaineyDee]

What about a proper diet and exercise?

Serrapeptase seems to look promising as well. :)

[SamuraiScot]

Merck Drug for Cutting Cholesterol Is Promising

What is it with Merck and "breakthrough" drugs based on politically driven hoaxes? We had Gardasil, based on inoculating every 9-year-old girl in the country against a few particular strains of a fast-mutating sexually transmitted disease that a girl might get if she later decides on a career of sexual promiscuity. Planned Parenthood types love Gardasil, because it gives them an excuse to talk dirty to your daughter and sell her drugs or abortions behind your back at taxpayer expense. And this is a drug whose risks from bad reactions are greater than the risk of getting the disease it's supposed to prevent, according to one of the researchers who developed it.

And now we have the promise of a drug to reduce cholesterol. High cholesterol is claimed by liberals to be caused by eating fat, especially from red meat. Liberals hate red meat, because masculine men like it, and masculine men scare liberals. Mind you, cholesterol does not come from red meat, but from heredity. Not that it matters, because cholesterol has never been shown to cause a disease. But for Merck, what a great way to get doctors to separate people from their money and send it to you.

Maybe Merck will come out next year with a drug to prevent global warming.

[Pining_4_TX]

Agreed. We are being sold a bill of goods. This article even admits that cholesterol lowering drugs have not reduced heart attacks.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=3232247&page=1

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

The article you publish is not a report of a clinical research study, it is an opinion article by a TV Dr. who states that he has never prescribed a cholesterol lowering medication. It is true that most of the statin drugs have not independently proved a reduction in heart disease, but at least one (Lipitor), has proved it in clinical trials. The others have proved they improve cholesterol levels, which is the same mechanism used by Lipitor.

[Pining_4_TX]

Dr. Hadler is not a TV doctor like that quack Dr. Oz, if that is what you meant.

Clinical trials are done by companies with a financial interest in their success. They have been stopped on many occasion when the results were not looking so hot for their drug. Also, the results are usually reported in term of a reduction in relative risk, which can be a misleading measurement of success.

Relative risk vs absolute
http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/reriveabri.html

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

There is no such thing as an absolute lack of risk.

[Pining_4_TX]

Reduction or increase in risk can be measured and reported in terms of absolute or relative. Look up the difference.