Statin News and Research

RSS

Statins are drugs used to lower cholesterol. Your body needs some cholesterol to work properly. But if you have too much in your blood, it can stick to the walls of your arteries, narrowing or even blocking them.

Study finds broader statin use as a cost-effective way to prevent heart attack and stroke

A new analysis suggests that broader statin use among adult patients may be a cost-effective way to prevent heart attack and stroke. The Stanford University School of Medicine study also found that using a popular test - a screening for high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP - to identify patients who may benefit from statin therapy would be cost-effective, but only under certain scenarios.

29 Sep 2010

CRP levels vary between ethnically-diverse populations: Study

C-reactive protein (CRP) levels vary between ethnically-diverse populations, and are only partly due to known differences in heart risk among these groups.A single risk level of CRP at 2 mg/L may over or under estimate the need for statin medication in different ethnic groups, especially if other risk factors are not considered.

29 Sep 2010

Researchers investigate performance levels of resident and staff physicians

Research on the quality of US resident physician performance levels has often been limited by lack of a comparison group or strict focus on specific diseases and geographical areas. In order to gain insight on differences in quality of care provided by resident physicians versus staff physicians, Boston Medical Center and Palo Alto Medical Foundation researchers investigated performance of physicians in 33,900 hospital-based outpatient visits throughout the US.

22 Sep 2010

Celera receives patent on KIF6 gene variant

Celera Corporation today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued United States Patent 7,799,530 relating to methods of determining heart attack risk by detecting the KIF6 gene variant and reduction of such increased risk by statin therapy.

21 Sep 2010

Crestor suppressed human cancer cells transplanted to mice

A drug commonly prescribed for people with high cholesterol may also be effective in treating prostate cancer, according to new research by Dr. Xiao-Yan Wen at St. Michael's Hospital.

20 Sep 2010

Abbott to commercialize Celera's CE-marked KIF6 genotyping assay outside U.S.

Celera Corporation and Abbott today announced that they have signed an exclusive distribution agreement to market Celera's CE-marked KIF6 diagnostic test for use on Abbott's CE-marked m2000™ instrument system. The KIF6 genotyping assay detects a genetic marker that may be used in conjunction with clinical evaluation and patient assessment for the identification of individuals at risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), and in patients for whom statin treatment is being considered.

20 Sep 2010

Researchers find bariatric surgery reduces cardiovascular disease risk

Significant weight loss not only improves daily life of morbidly obese woman but also decreases the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, many people can not lose weight or can not maintain weight loss without help. Bariatric surgery is emerging as a valuable procedure to help morbidly obese individuals lose weight, as studies have shown; it can improve many health profiles and lower mortality. Now, researchers have found another positive impact of significant weight loss after bariatric surgery, it can significantly improve the lipoprotein profiles of women within a year following surgery.

17 Sep 2010

Mipomersen Phase 3 trial in heFH meets primary, secondary and tertiary endpoints

Genzyme Corp. and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that data from the phase 3 study of mipomersen in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (heFH) were presented today at the European Society of Cardiology's Congress 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden. The study met its primary endpoint with a 28 percent reduction in LDL-cholesterol, compared with an increase of 5 percent for placebo (p<0.001). The trial also met all of its secondary and tertiary endpoints.

2 Sep 2010

Study determines dose-specific patterns associated with generic statin switching

Research conducted in the Netherlands has highlighted the need for care when switching patients under treatment for high cholesterol from branded to generic drug families. The study shows that much of the switching can result in patients inadvertently receiving non-equivalent doses, potentially leading to an increased risk of downstream heart disease and stroke.

31 Aug 2010

Study shows statin therapy not associated with cancer

In the largest and most reliable study of its type, the University of Oxford (UK) and the University of Sydney (Australia) have demonstrated that statin therapy is not a cause of increased cancer rates and deaths. The conclusions of this study will reassure the millions of people worldwide who are taking statins to lower cholesterol levels, and clarifies earlier research that had raised concerns of a causal link.

31 Aug 2010

Amsterdam Molecular first half 2010 net loss in line with last year

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics, a leader in the field of human gene therapy, today reported its results for the first half year of 2010.

31 Aug 2010

Statin therapy reduces cardiovascular disease risk in patients with high sensitivity C-reactive protein

People at intermediate risk of cardiovascular disease who have high levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a blood marker for inflammation, could benefit from cholesterol-lowering therapy even if their cholesterol is already at desirable levels.

25 Aug 2010

Immunosuppressive therapy benefits necrotizing myopathy patients with novel autoantibody specificity

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have identified a subgroup of patients with necrotizing myopathy who have a novel autoantibody specificity that makes them potential candidates for immunosuppressive therapy. The complete study is published in the September issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

20 Aug 2010

Celera Corporation releases review article on KIF6 gene variant for CHD

Celera Corporation today announced the publication of a review article on the KIF6 gene variant as a predictor of risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and reduction of CHD events from statin therapy.

19 Aug 2010

Burger, fries and a statin please!

British scientists have come up with a novel idea. They suggested that junk food counters should hand out free cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to their customers to “neutralize” the heart risks of eating fatty foods like burgers and fries. The idea is to project having high cholesterol fatty food as risky a behavior as driving or smoking that needs the user to go for seatbelts and filtered cigarettes respectively.

17 Aug 2010

Statin drugs can neutralise heart disease dangers of fatty food: Study

Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge so that customers can neutralise the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London suggest in a new study published this week.Statins reduce the amount of unhealthy "LDL" cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person's heart attack risk.

13 Aug 2010

Fast food outlets can provide statin drugs to help customers neutralise heart disease: Researchers

12 Aug 2010

Study shows physicians reluctant to use finasteride for prostate cancer

Despite the dramatic results of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), which showed a significant reduction in prostate cancer among those taking finasteride, physicians have not increased its use, according to a study published in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

11 Aug 2010

Amarin provides progress update on MARINE and ANCHOR trials for treating elevated triglyceride levels

Amarin Corporation plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a focus on cardiovascular disease, today reports a financial update as of June 30, 2010. In addition, the Company provides a progress update of its MARINE and ANCHOR trials, the two on-going Phase 3 clinical trials of its lead product candidate AMR101 for treating elevated triglyceride levels.

10 Aug 2010

Amarin completes enrollment in AMR101 Phase 3 MARINE clinical trial

Amarin Corporation plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a focus on cardiovascular disease, today announced that its MARINE trial, a Phase 3 clinical trial of AMR101, has completed patient enrollment and randomization into the treatment phase of this trial. The Company indicated that top line results from this trial are expected early in 2011, towards the early part of the range of guidance provided previously.

10 Aug 2010