Lipitor doesn't beat Zocor in heart attack study
ABC News: High doses of Pfizer Inc.'s cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor failed in a high-stakes trial to help heart attack patients significantly more than moderate doses of Merck & Co.'s rival Zocor, researchers said on Nov. 15, 2005.
The aim of the study presented at the American Heart Association scientific meeting was to determine whether intensive lowering of "bad" LDL cholesterol with atorvastatin (Lipitor) would reduce the risk of death and other adverse events in heart attack patients more than the moderate, most widely used dose of Zocor, known by the chemical name simvastatin.
The aim of the study presented at the American Heart Association scientific meeting was to determine whether intensive lowering of "bad" LDL cholesterol with atorvastatin (Lipitor) would reduce the risk of death and other adverse events in heart attack patients more than the moderate, most widely used dose of Zocor, known by the chemical name simvastatin.
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 12:22 PM
1 Comments:
Check out the link below. Anaysis of nearly 40,000 patients showed almost no benefit in preventing heart attacks and strokes when using statins in primary prevention trials. And the research was paid for by the drug companies themselves! Judging by this report the 15 billion we spend annualy on statins may be a waste. It is not a question of Zocor versus Lipitor, but rather do these meds work at all.
Dr. Kim Vanderlinden
The link:
http://www.ti.ubc.ca/pages/letter48.htm
The coclusion of the authors:
Conclusions:
If cardiovascular serious adverse events are viewed in isolation, 71 primary prevention patients with cardiovascular risk factors have to be treated with a statin for 3 to 5 years to prevent one myocardial infarction or stroke.
This cardiovascular benefit is not reflected in 2 measures of overall health impact, total mortality and total serious adverse events. Therefore, statins have not been shown to provide an overall health benefit in primary prevention trials.
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