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Heart Disease
Another Drug (on top of statins) To Lower Cholesterol?
Date: 15/03/10
People whose LDL ("bad") cholesterol level remains too high, despite taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, can now ‘safely’ lower their levels by popping yet another pill.
More drugs?
Just what we need!
Instead of doubling the dosage of statin drugs to help lower LDL that refuses to budge, the new drug appears to lower levels without causing any adverse events.
Glimmer of hope
In a report published in the March 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins and Swedish researchers claim that an experimental drug called eprotirome lowers cholesterol by up to 32 per cent in patients already using statins - an effect equal to doubling statin drug doses. According to the researchers, eprotirome brings all the benefits without the harmful side effects associated with statin drugs.
All 168 participants followed a diet developed by the US National Institutes of Health to reduce cholesterol before the study commenced. Continuing this diet, for the next 12 weeks, the patients took a placebo or 25, 50, or 100 mg of eprotirome in addition to whatever statin they were already taking. The researchers then analyzed the patients' levels of LDL cholesterol, HDL (or "good") cholesterol, triglycerides (blood fats), apo B, and Lp(a) (two substances also linked to increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease).
All of the patients had been treated with statins for at least three months prior to the study starting, but still had an LDL cholesterol higher than the recommended level.
The researchers found that the patients taking the 25, 50 or 100 mg doses of eprotirome reduced their LDL cholesterol levels by 22 per cent, 28 per cent, and 32 per cent respectively, compared to only 6.5 per cent in those taking placebo. They also found similar dose-related reductions in triglycerides, apo B, and Lp(a).
Don’t hold your breath
The results look promising, right? Imagine lowering cholesterol by 32 per cent, not to mention lowering other known heart disease risk factors (which certainly isn’t something statin drugs can do), without the statin drug’s side effects...
Don’t get too excited. Here’s a few flaws:
Fact is, eprotirome was only tested on subjects already taking statins. So, it really is a study about taking yet another drug so that the drugs you’re already taking will be more effective. Or at best, taking another drug so that you don’t have to double the dose of the original drugs you were taking which come with a long list of harmful side effects. It all boils down to popping more pills...
The researchers cautioned that the results of the study don't suggest that eprotirome will or should replace statins….heaven forbid this money spinner should cease to exist!! However, eprotirome may eventually be a promising addition to statin therapy.
Yet why haven’t they tested eprotirome on its own, and not just alongside statins? Especially if it does lower heart disease risk factors… once again it comes down to pound signs – statins are simply too profitable to replace.
It also looks like this ‘addition to statin therapy’ will only be given to patients who can't tolerate the side effects of statins...
I sure hope they’ve got plenty of supplies in that case!
However, since statins are the new ‘medical gold standard’ in fighting high cholesterol, very few doctors buy in to the idea that these drugs have severe side effects – such as liver damage, myalgia and muscle pain and fatigue – so I doubt they’ll be enrolling too many people up for eprotirome.
Also, note that lead researcher Dr. Paul W. Ladenson, professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in the US, where the research was conducted, is a consultant to Karo Bio.
Karo Bio is the Swedish pharmaceutical company who developed eprotirome. Surely this is just coincidence – or is someone trying to ride the wave of the over-saturated statin market with their new drug... you scratch my back, I scratch yours?
Plus until more studies are conducted, I’ll hold my breath for now as to whether this new drug really is as side-effect free as they claim…it would certainly be a first, let’s face it, for a drug!
The great cholesterol con
Plus, let’s not lose sight of the fact that lowering cholesterol is not the be-all-and-end-all in the fight against cardiovascular disease…far from it.
In a previous alert my colleague Jenny Thompson, quoted Dr. Rodney A. Hayward a professor of internal medicine (University of Michigan Medical School, in the US) who said: "We've been worrying too much about people's cholesterol level and not enough about their overall risk of heart disease."
Dr. Hayward and his team examined several statin trials conducted between 1994 and 2009.
Results showed that tailored treatment - giving less importance to LDL cholesterol levels, while weighing multiple risk factors to develop a variety of treatments including exercise, diet modification, etc - prevented more coronary artery disease events while treating fewer subjects with high-dose statins.
In a press release, Dr. Hayward said, "The bottom line message — knowing your overall heart attack risk is more important than knowing your cholesterol level."
Then there’s also one of the most important results of the Framingham Heart Study - that the mainstream seems to ignore – which in simple terms comes down to the following: If you take statins and drive cholesterol low enough, then THAT becomes one of your risk factors!
So, enough with this cholesterol-lowering-statin-nonsense. Give us some good old fashioned solid sound advice that is tailored to our individual needs, not yet another drug.
Heart Disease - Related Reading:
Cholesterol – Your Doctor’s Advice Could be Damaging Your Health...
Crestor Statin Controversy: Results of Major Statin Trial are Biased and Flawed
Studies Show Meditation Can Benefit Your Heart
HOT TOPICS:
Do This ONE Thing To Help Prevent The Onset Of Alzheimer’s And Dementia
Your Fluoride Protection Plan...
Is a Lack of Sleep Affecting Your Health?
Sources:
"For Heart Health, Focus on Risk Factors" HealthDay News, 1/18/10, healthscout.com
‘Eprotirome lowers LDL cholesterol up to 32% in those already on statins’ published online 09.03.10, news- medical.net
‘New 'statin' which cuts heart attack and stroke risk without side effects developed by scientists’ published online 11.03.10, dailymail.co.uk
Back to topMore drugs?
Just what we need!
Instead of doubling the dosage of statin drugs to help lower LDL that refuses to budge, the new drug appears to lower levels without causing any adverse events.
Glimmer of hope
In a report published in the March 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins and Swedish researchers claim that an experimental drug called eprotirome lowers cholesterol by up to 32 per cent in patients already using statins - an effect equal to doubling statin drug doses. According to the researchers, eprotirome brings all the benefits without the harmful side effects associated with statin drugs.
All 168 participants followed a diet developed by the US National Institutes of Health to reduce cholesterol before the study commenced. Continuing this diet, for the next 12 weeks, the patients took a placebo or 25, 50, or 100 mg of eprotirome in addition to whatever statin they were already taking. The researchers then analyzed the patients' levels of LDL cholesterol, HDL (or "good") cholesterol, triglycerides (blood fats), apo B, and Lp(a) (two substances also linked to increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease).
All of the patients had been treated with statins for at least three months prior to the study starting, but still had an LDL cholesterol higher than the recommended level.
The researchers found that the patients taking the 25, 50 or 100 mg doses of eprotirome reduced their LDL cholesterol levels by 22 per cent, 28 per cent, and 32 per cent respectively, compared to only 6.5 per cent in those taking placebo. They also found similar dose-related reductions in triglycerides, apo B, and Lp(a).
Don’t hold your breath
The results look promising, right? Imagine lowering cholesterol by 32 per cent, not to mention lowering other known heart disease risk factors (which certainly isn’t something statin drugs can do), without the statin drug’s side effects...
Don’t get too excited. Here’s a few flaws:
Fact is, eprotirome was only tested on subjects already taking statins. So, it really is a study about taking yet another drug so that the drugs you’re already taking will be more effective. Or at best, taking another drug so that you don’t have to double the dose of the original drugs you were taking which come with a long list of harmful side effects. It all boils down to popping more pills...
The researchers cautioned that the results of the study don't suggest that eprotirome will or should replace statins….heaven forbid this money spinner should cease to exist!! However, eprotirome may eventually be a promising addition to statin therapy.
Yet why haven’t they tested eprotirome on its own, and not just alongside statins? Especially if it does lower heart disease risk factors… once again it comes down to pound signs – statins are simply too profitable to replace.
It also looks like this ‘addition to statin therapy’ will only be given to patients who can't tolerate the side effects of statins...
I sure hope they’ve got plenty of supplies in that case!
However, since statins are the new ‘medical gold standard’ in fighting high cholesterol, very few doctors buy in to the idea that these drugs have severe side effects – such as liver damage, myalgia and muscle pain and fatigue – so I doubt they’ll be enrolling too many people up for eprotirome.
Also, note that lead researcher Dr. Paul W. Ladenson, professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in the US, where the research was conducted, is a consultant to Karo Bio.
Karo Bio is the Swedish pharmaceutical company who developed eprotirome. Surely this is just coincidence – or is someone trying to ride the wave of the over-saturated statin market with their new drug... you scratch my back, I scratch yours?
Plus until more studies are conducted, I’ll hold my breath for now as to whether this new drug really is as side-effect free as they claim…it would certainly be a first, let’s face it, for a drug!
The great cholesterol con
Plus, let’s not lose sight of the fact that lowering cholesterol is not the be-all-and-end-all in the fight against cardiovascular disease…far from it.
In a previous alert my colleague Jenny Thompson, quoted Dr. Rodney A. Hayward a professor of internal medicine (University of Michigan Medical School, in the US) who said: "We've been worrying too much about people's cholesterol level and not enough about their overall risk of heart disease."
Dr. Hayward and his team examined several statin trials conducted between 1994 and 2009.
Results showed that tailored treatment - giving less importance to LDL cholesterol levels, while weighing multiple risk factors to develop a variety of treatments including exercise, diet modification, etc - prevented more coronary artery disease events while treating fewer subjects with high-dose statins.
In a press release, Dr. Hayward said, "The bottom line message — knowing your overall heart attack risk is more important than knowing your cholesterol level."
Then there’s also one of the most important results of the Framingham Heart Study - that the mainstream seems to ignore – which in simple terms comes down to the following: If you take statins and drive cholesterol low enough, then THAT becomes one of your risk factors!
So, enough with this cholesterol-lowering-statin-nonsense. Give us some good old fashioned solid sound advice that is tailored to our individual needs, not yet another drug.
Heart Disease - Related Reading:
Cholesterol – Your Doctor’s Advice Could be Damaging Your Health...
Crestor Statin Controversy: Results of Major Statin Trial are Biased and Flawed
Studies Show Meditation Can Benefit Your Heart
HOT TOPICS:
Do This ONE Thing To Help Prevent The Onset Of Alzheimer’s And Dementia
Your Fluoride Protection Plan...
Is a Lack of Sleep Affecting Your Health?
Sources:
"For Heart Health, Focus on Risk Factors" HealthDay News, 1/18/10, healthscout.com
‘Eprotirome lowers LDL cholesterol up to 32% in those already on statins’ published online 09.03.10, news- medical.net
‘New 'statin' which cuts heart attack and stroke risk without side effects developed by scientists’ published online 11.03.10, dailymail.co.uk
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