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To: Anthony Wong who wrote (34)	5/26/1998 6:30:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1722

Merck Cholesterol Treatment May Have Broader Application May 26, 1998 4:00 PM CHICAGO (AP)--Six million healthy Americans with ordinary cholesterol levels might benefit from taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, researchers say. Healthy men and women taking lovastatin, sold as Mevacor, reduced their risk of serious heart trouble 37 percent, according to a five-year study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Mevacor is sold by Merck & Co. (MRK). Currently, national guidelines recommend cholesterol-lowering drugs only for people with high cholesterol. "We estimate that 6 million Americans not recommended for drug treatment may benefit" from lovastatin, said the authors, led by Dr. John R. Downs of Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The findings were also released in November at an American Heart Association meeting and were reported by The Associated Press at the time. The study involved 6,604 men and postmenopausal women ages 45 to 73 whose average total cholesterol was 221, higher than the recommended cutoff of 200 but typical for Americans. "Good" cholesterol, or HDL, levels averaged 36, lower than the recommended cutoff of 40. "Bad" cholesterol, or LDL, averaged 150, higher than ideal but also typical. Half of the participants got lovastatin, half got dummy pills. Overall, there were 299 instances of heart attack, serious heart pain or fatal cardiac arrest. Women taking lovastatin had 46 percent lower risk of heart trouble than the other women. Men on the drug had a 37 percent lower risk. However, an accompanying editorial noted that that cholesterol-lowering drugs - lovastatin is the first of five similar "statin" drugs - cost $900 to $1,800 a year at the levels used in the study. The drugs also must be taken for life.