my HEART belongs to me!. . .Zetia, cholesterol drug, shown to have no benefits. . .

[NewtonMP2100]

. .. whatsoever. . .another drug 'issue'. . .


Cholesterol Drug Zetia Doesn't Benefit Health, Trial Shows

. . .The long-awaited results of a trial of Zetia, a cholesterol-lowering drug prescribed to about a million Americans, shows the drug confers no medical benefit to users.

In fact, the pace at which artery-clogging plaques formed within vessels almost doubled in patients taking Zetia (ezetimibe) along with another cholesterol-lowering drug, Zocor (simvastatin), compared to those taking Zocor alone, the study found. . .

MISSING LINK to the full story of yet another drug that doesn't do what is is supposed to do. . .

[elahon]

Is that the commercial that compares everyone to a food item? There are so many drug commercials telling us to ask our doctors if these drugs are right for us, they all blend together.

[binky]

It's interesting that the study was done only on patients who had a genetic condition that predisposed them to high cholesterol. Maybe these patients were less likely to see benefits from a drug like Zetia, which blocks absorption of cholesterol in the gut (as opposed to Zocor which acts on the liver to reduce production of cholesterol).


Bink.

[kj]

For a long time they were careful to say that the drugs lowered cholesterol, but had a disclaimer saying it hadn't been determined that it lowered risk of heart attack. It sounds like that's the case here. It lowers cholesterol, but doesn't decrease risk of heart attack. I'll have to look at the article, when I get a chance though ;-). kj.

[Gutenberg]

The drug companies concluded early last year that Zetia was useless but continued to advertise it heavily.