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.

Statins appear to be safe for people with fatty liver disease

Statins appear to be safe for people with fatty liver disease who could benefit from their cholesterol-lowering capabilities, concludes a review paper published in the April 2005 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

28 Mar 2005

Gene/yeast finding links processes in heart disease and cancer

By studying a little-known yeast too primitive to get diseases, Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered a surprising link between two processes at play in heart disease and cancer in people.

28 Mar 2005

Questions about validity of HOPE TOO vitamin E study

A study published in the March 16 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggesting that a "daily-dose" of vitamin E (400 international units) among high-risk (chronically ill) cardiovascular patient populations is associated with a greater risk of heart failure is being challenged by leading health researchers around the country who claim the study lacks the adequate research and controlled sampling audience to justify this conclusion.

16 Mar 2005

Link between C-reactive protein, heart disease and stroke

The cells that line the arteries are able to produce C-reactive protein, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the April issue of American Journal of Pathology.

16 Mar 2005

New insight into key mechanism by which cells limit cholesterol

The finding suggests a novel approach to the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs that may boost the effect of statins, one of the most prescribed cholesterol inhibitors, according to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

15 Mar 2005

Blacks less likely to get expensive, newer heart treatments

Blacks who suffer the most common type of cardiac ischemia – non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome – are less likely than whites to receive expensive or newer evidence-based treatments, according to a report in a special disparities themed issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

15 Mar 2005

Blood pressure treatment could cut risk of strokes and heart attacks

A new treatment strategy for hypertension can cut the risk of strokes by around 25 percent and coronary events by around 15 percent according to the preliminary results of a major international trial announced at the American College of Cardiology Late Breaking Clinical Trials II Meeting in Orlando today.

8 Mar 2005

Breakthrough noninvasive tool for early cardiovascular disease detection

Physicians and researchers now have access to a noninvasive fingertip test that can identify patients with the earliest stages of cardiovascular disease and replace testing that is done during angiography.

7 Mar 2005

FDA issues information on the risks and benefits of Crestor

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), today issued public health advice, patient information, and professional healthcare information on the risks and benefits of Crestor (Rosuvastatin calcium), a cholesterol-lowering drug.

2 Mar 2005

No to over the counter statin!

Last Friday an FDA expert panel voted overwhelmingly against the over-the-counter sale of Merck's cholesterol lowering drug Mevacor (lovastatin). Mevacor is one of a number of drugs known as "statins" which are widely considered to be the most effective drugs for the treatment of high cholesterol. Statins work by inhibiting a liver enzyme used in the manufacture of cholesterol.

17 Jan 2005

Scientists uncover new evidence to help explain statins’ effects in Alzheimer’s disease

Scientists at Jefferson Medical College and the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have taken another step in understanding the potential effects of anti-cholesterol drugs on Alzheimer’s disease.

12 Jan 2005

Statins lower C-reactive protein (CRP), a major new risk factor for heart disease marked by inflammation

For years, doctors have believed that statin therapy lowers the risk of heart disease solely by lowering levels of cholesterol.

9 Jan 2005

New guidelines for treating diabetes

Every year, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) issues Clinical Practice Recommendations, a series of updated recommendations to help health care providers treat people with diabetes using the most current research available.

7 Jan 2005

Reduced progression of atherosclerosis tied to statin drugs lowering fats, protein

Aggressive therapy with statins -- drugs that inhibit cholesterol synthesis -- works better than moderate statin therapy in reducing fats and proteins in the blood that have been linked to atherosclerosis, a new multi-center study concludes. Statins’ effects on both complex compounds appear beneficial in cutting patients’ cardiovascular risks.

6 Jan 2005

The rise in over the counter drugs, why?

Switching of prescription drugs to over the counter availability is increasingly common, but what are the motives behind this trend, ask US researchers in this week's BMJ?

3 Jan 2005

Excellent news for the many people who suffer from high blood pressure

An international trial comparing blood-pressure lowering treatments has been stopped early due to the significantly better performance of one of the treatments in the trial.

8 Dec 2004

Noninvasive test of blood flow response may reveal early coronary disease

Chest pain patients who have abnormal coronary blood vessel function also have less responsive blood vessels in their fingertips, suggesting that a type of fingertip probe could become a useful screening tool, according to a new study in the Dec. 7, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

8 Dec 2004

Life expectancy at 65 is now 81.6 years for men and 84.5 for women

The nation’s medicine cabinets are more crowded than ever, with almost half of all people taking at least one prescription medicine and one in six taking three or more medications, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ annual check-up on Americans’ health.

4 Dec 2004

Information about serious adverse effects of cerivastatin were known within months after drug launched

A review of the published literature and of internal company documents from the manufacturer of cerivastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug removed from the market in 2001, suggests that information about serious adverse effects of this medication was known to the company within months after this drug was launched

23 Nov 2004

Patients taking the lipid-lowering medications have a relatively low risk of developing rhabdomyolysis

Patients taking the lipid-lowering medications atorvastatin, pravastatin, and simvastatin to reduce cholesterol levels, have a relatively low risk of developing rhabdomyolysis, (a disorder that causes the breakdown of muscle), according to a new study in the December 1 issue of JAMA.

23 Nov 2004