Published on November 26, 2009 at 4:49 AM
In the week ending Friday, Nov. 20 – after the American Heart Association and New England Journal of Medicine released results of the Arbiter 6-HALTS study on Saturday, Nov. 14 – patients new to Niaspan filled 13,255 prescriptions for the cholesterol therapy, an increase of 41% from the week ending Nov. 13.
This data comes from Vector One®: National (VONA), SDI's national-level prescription and patient tracking service. VONA provides a comprehensive overview of the national performance of all prescription drugs dispensed by retail pharmacies.
Niaspan prescriptions rose for patients who had never before taken a cholesterol therapy, as well as patients adding Niaspan to their current cholesterol treatment or switching from a different cholesterol medicine to Niaspan. Niaspan prescriptions filled by patients who had not filled a script for a cholesterol therapy during the previous 12 months grew 34% in the week ending Nov. 20 compared with the prior week. Prescriptions dispensed to patients adding Niaspan to their current treatment or switching to Niaspan from a different cholesterol medicine increased 46%.
Niaspan prescriptions totaled 107,358 in the week ending Nov. 20th, up 2.6% from 104,590 in the week ending Nov. 13.
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