A long term study of the world's top selling medication found that cholesterol-lowering statin drug help prevent heart attacks for up to 10 years after patients stop taking them.
The original study showed that men taking Pravachol for five years lowered their risk of heart attack and death from heart disease. The same men were followed for another 10 years after most had stopped taking the medication and compared to the men that had taken a placebo for the original 5 year period. There was a reported 25% decrease in heart attack and heart disease among those that had taken the statin.
"Dr. Michael J. Domanski of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute said the study's biggest weakness is the fact that after the study ended, more of the original statin patients took the drugs than those in the placebo group. Domanski wrote in an editorial that the study clearly shows the benefit of statin use "is durable over the long term" and that there now can be no doubt reducing levels of LDL cholesterol has a role in preventing and treating heart disease."
The follow up study was, in part, funded by the makers of Pravachol, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.( NYSE:BMY) and Daiichi Sankyo Inc.(TYO:4568), maker of the statin WelChol, and all but one of the researchers reported receiving financial remuneration for 5 other pharmaceuticals, four of which sell statins.
[Source: Yahoo News]
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Posted by: Green Apple Agent | October 17, 2007 9:06 AM | Permalink to Comment