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Federal health officials on Tuesday added new safety alerts to the prescribing information for statins, the cholesterol-reducing medications that are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, citing rare risks of memory loss, diabetes and muscle pain. It is the first time that the Food and Drug Administration has officially linked statin use with cognitive problems like forgetfulness and confusion, although some patients have reported such problems for years. Among the drugs affected are huge sellers like Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor and Vytorin. But federal officials and some medical experts said the new alerts should not scare people away...

When the Food and Drug Administration approved a new type of cholesterol-lowering medicine in 2002, it did so on the basis of a handful of clinical trials covering a total of 3,900 patients. None of the patients took the medicine for more than 12 weeks, and the trials offered no evidence that it had reduced heart attacks or cardiovascular disease, the goal of any cholesterol drug. The lack of evidence has not stopped doctors from heavily prescribing that drug, whether in a stand-alone form sold as Zetia or as a combination medicine called Vytorin. Aided by extensive consumer advertising, sales...

Doctors say Vytorin-cancer link can't be ruled out MUNICH, Germany - Results from three studies of the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin are not enough to prove or rule out a possible link to a higher risk of cancer, so the drug should be used with great caution until more is known, editors of a leading medical journal urged Tuesday. The New England Journal of Medicine published results of the studies, which also were presented at a cardiology conference in Munich. Vytorin is a combination of Merck's Zocor, a long-sold statin drug, and Schering-Plough's Zetia, a newer type of medicine that lowers...

The cholesterol fighter Vytorin sold by Merck & Co Inc and Schering-Plough Corp failed to meet the main goal of improving outcomes in a closely-watched heart study, according to data presented on Monday. Slightly higher incidents of cancer deaths were also seen in those taking the drug -- 39 versus 23 on placebo -- although the lead researcher said those could have occurred as a result of chance. The shares of both companies fell after the data were released, with Schering off more than 15 percent and Merck down by 7 percent. No significant difference in the study's composite heart...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. fell to record lows Monday, as analysts warned new clinical data would cause sales of their blockbuster cholesterol drug Vytorin to fall further. The companies market Vytorin through a joint venture, but earlier this year, partial results from a clinical study showed that it was no more effective at limiting plaque buildup than Merck's Zocor, a drug that is already available in generic form. Full results of that study were released Sunday. Vytorin is a combination of Zocor and Schering-Plough's drug Zetia. Schering-Plough shares plunged as low as...

AP Medical Writer Full results of a failed trial on Vytorin, a medicine taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol, left doctors stunned that the drug did not improve heart disease even though it worked as intended to lower three key risk factors. Use of Vytorin and a related drug, Zetia, seemed sure to continue to fall after the findings reported Sunday and fresh questions about why drugmakers took nearly two years after the study ended to give results. "A lot of us thought that there would be some glimmer of benefit," said Dr. Roger Blumenthal, a Johns Hopkins...

New evidence shows that the drug makers Merck and Schering-Plough have conducted several studies of their popular cholesterol medicine Zetia that raise questions about its risks to the liver, but the companies have never published those results. Partial results of the studies, alluded to in documents on the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site, raise questions about whether Zetia can cause liver damage when used long term with other cholesterol drugs called statins. Most of the millions of people who use Zetia take it along with a statin like Lipitor, Crestor or Zocor. Or they take it in a single...