Merck's Cholesterol Drug Slashes Heart Risks in Healthy People
Bloomberg News
May 26, 1998, 1:01 p.m. PT
Merck's Cholesterol Drug Slashes Heart Risks in Healthy People
Chicago, May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co.'s cholesterol-
lowering drug Mevacor reduces the risk of first heart attacks
even for those who don't have high cholesterol, suggesting that
more people should be getting the drug, a newly published study
shows.
An additional 6 million Americans could benefit -- in the
form of preventing heart disease and major cardiac problems --
from expanding the federal government's treatment guidelines to
include patients with normal total cholesterol levels and lower-
than-average ''good cholesterol'' levels, the researchers said.
The study of 6,605 men and women with no signs or symptoms
of heart disease, treated with Mevacor or placebo then monitored
for more than five years, was first presented in November. The
Merck-sponsored clinical trial is published in tomorrow's Journal
of the American Medical Association.
Research previously showed that Mevacor and similar drugs,
which generate billions of dollars in annual sales, reduce heart
risks for those with high cholesterol levels. This is the first
study that shows the drugs reduce risks in patients not normally
considered candidates for drug therapy.
Patients taking Mevacor had a 37 percent lower risk of a
heart attack, severe chest pain, or death than those on placebo,
and the drug didn't cause any serious side effects, the study
found. Mevacor also reduced total and low-density lipoprotein, or
''bad'' cholesterol levels by 18 percent to 25 percent.
A review article in the journal by Drs. Robert S. Rosenson
and Christine C. Tangney concluded that Mevacor and similar drugs
known as statins may have beneficial effects on inflammation,
plaque, which builds up in arteries to cause heart disease, and
blood clots, which can trigger heart attacks, in addition to
cholesterol.
The study's findings changes the question about who should
get Mevacor and similar drugs made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.,
Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc. and Warner-Lambert Co., said Dr. Thomas
A. Pearson from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in
an editorial. Instead of asking who should get the drugs, doctors
and researchers need to identify the patients for whom the costs
outweigh the benefits, he said.
Currently, the drugs cost between $900 and $1,800 annually
per patient. If Mevacor was given to 1,000 people for five years,
it would prevent 12 heart attacks, seven cases of severe chest
pain and 17 procedures to restore blood flow to the heart, the
researchers said.
While the benefits are significant, they might not be cost-
effective in such a low-risk group of patients, Pearson said.
Instead, the guidelines for cholesterol-lowering drugs should be
reviewed to determine if other groups of patients -- such as
those with high blood pressure, who have a family history of
heart disease or smoke -- should be included.
''Such a data-driven approach will be useful to establish
new benchmarks for preventive medicine and to help the clinician
answer the increasingly difficult question of whom not to
treat,'' Pearson said.
--Michelle Fay Cortez in Ithaca, New York (607) 272-1174, through |
