Statin News and Research

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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.

High blood levels of C-reactive protein may be linked to increased risk of age-related macular degeneration

High blood levels of C-reactive protein, a substance linked to inflammation, appear to be associated with an increased risk for age-related macular degeneration, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

9 Oct 2007

New findings on cholesterol metabolism in the brain and Alzheimer's disease

Although the causes of Alzheimer's disease are not completely understood, amyloid-beta (A-beta) is widely considered a likely culprit - the "sticky" protein clumps into plaques thought to harm brain cells.

4 Oct 2007

Low levels of good cholesterol risk for heart disease

According to the latest research reducing the amount of "bad cholesterol" (LDL - low density lipoprotein cholesterol) in the blood is incidental if the proper amount of "good cholesterol" (HDL - high density lipoprotein cholesterol) is not present.

3 Oct 2007

New guidelines for cardiac testing and treatments

People with heart disease should take special precautions before undergoing any kind of surgery, even noncardiac surgery, to reduce their risk of a cardiac event, according to new joint guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

27 Sep 2007

OTC statin treatment could help stem the cardiovascular disease epidemic

Making statin treatment available without a prescription could help the fight against heart disease, says Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health at The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

26 Sep 2007

Bad habits and lifestyle put heart disease victims at twice the risk of colon cancer

Researchers in Hong Kong have found that patients newly diagnosed with coronary artery disease had almost twice the prevalence of colorectal tumors and cancers; they say this was more so among those who had smoked or had metabolic syndrome.

25 Sep 2007

Diet and medications may assist prevention of prostate cancer

Recent investigations of medications, diet and the molecular understanding of prostate cancer are defining potential prevention strategies for the disease, and herald a new stage in the management of this cancer, according to a new review.

25 Sep 2007

Past clinical trials of vitamin E fatally flawed

Generations of studies on vitamin E may be largely meaningless, scientists say, because new research has demonstrated that the levels of this micronutrient necessary to reduce oxidative stress are far higher than those that have been commonly used in clinical trials.

24 Sep 2007

Research to shed new light on how statins benefit heart patients

A scientist at Leeds whose research is challenging conventional thinking on how the cholesterol-reducing drugs statins benefit cardiac patients, has secured funding to further investigate her findings.

24 Sep 2007

Breakthrough in cardiovascular research

Cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis - a condition that greatly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke - by suppressing the activity of a key protein that protects the heart and blood vessels, researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have found.

18 Sep 2007

Study looks at Atorvastatin and cholesterol

Scientists report in the October issue of the Journal of Lipid Research new details about how a drug used against heart disease helps to unclog blood vessels from an excess of cholesterol and fats.

18 Sep 2007

Screening all babies for high cholesterol could save many lives

Doctors in the UK say in order to reduce the number of people suffering from heart disease children as young as 15 months should be screened for high cholesterol.

17 Sep 2007

Novel angiogenic drugs could revolutionize treatment of peripheral arterial disease

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the market entry of novel angiogenic agents, including a future blockbuster drug from Genzyme, could revolutionize symptomatic treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

12 Sep 2007

Generic prostate drug finasteride helps find high-risk cancers early

Men now have another good reason to consider taking finasteride, a well-known generic drug that shrinks an enlarged prostate and reduces the risk of getting prostate cancer by 25 percent.

12 Sep 2007

Experts say screening families of heart attack victims could save many lives

Scottish researchers say by screening the relatives of middle-aged heart attack sufferers many lives would be saved.

9 Sep 2007

Lower blood pressure to manage type 2 diabetes

A small reduction in blood pressure produced a significant benefit in the largest study ever done on the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes, presented on Sunday in Vienna at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, and published online in the Lancet the same day.

5 Sep 2007

Lowering homocysteine with B-vitamins does not reduce cardiovascular risk

Secondary prevention with homocysteine-lowering B-vitamins does not reduce risk of death or major cardiovascular events, according to the WENBIT study.

3 Sep 2007

Abbott and AstraZeneca confirm Phase III clinical trials of Fenofibrate ABT-335 and Crestor as fixed-dose combination

Abbott and AstraZeneca confirmed they will advance the development of Abbott's next-generation fenofibrate ABT-335 and AstraZeneca's CRESTOR (rosuvastatin calcium) in a fixed-dose combination treatment into Phase III clinical trials.

3 Sep 2007

Clinical reality of coronary prevention in Europe : A comparison

Dr Kornelia Kotseva, Consultant Cardiologist and the Project Manager for the EUROASPIRE III survey commented "despite the increase in prophylactic drug therapy, the majority of coronary patients in Europe have still not achieved the blood pressure target and two out of five are not achieving the total cholesterol goal".

2 Sep 2007

New evidence links discontinuation of statin therapy to increased death rates in stroke survivors

Patients who stop taking cholesterol-lowering drugs within a year of surviving a stroke had a two-fold increased risk of death, researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

30 Aug 2007