Monday, March 26, 2007

Bad News for "Good" Cholesterol

Recent studies show that the new drugs to increase the "good" cholesterol do not prevent heart disease.

From AP:
NEW ORLEANS - The hot new strategy of trying to prevent heart disease by raising good cholesterol had more setbacks Monday as new studies showed that experimental drugs didn't work and also had safety problems.

The news follows Pfizer Inc.'s abandonment in December of an $800 million investment in torcetrapib, the leading contender in this class of drugs, because it raised the risk of heart attacks and deaths.

Heart specialists have been anxious to know whether the problems extend to all such drugs and doom this approach.

"A lot of people think it's the next big thing, and we'll need to understand what went wrong with torcetrapib to move forward," said Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic heart specialist who is president of the American College of Cardiology.

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