IMPROVE-IT Meets Endpoint And Demonstrates Real But Modest Clinical Benefit For Ezetimibe
After all the waiting and all the controversy it turned out to be pretty simple. The IMPROVE-IT trial did what it set out to do and reached its primary endpoint. The benefit wasn’t very big or impressive but it will be enough to put to rest concerns that ezetimibe might have been an expensive placebo or that LDL might not be a reliable surrogate endpoint. The IMPROVE-IT results will also provide comfort to companies developing the next generation of cholesterol drugs, since their approval may have depended on validation of LDL as a surrogate endpoint. More… (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 17, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes cholesterol ezetimibe Merck Simvastatin Source Type: blogs
Research and Reviews in the Fastlane 051
Welcome to the 51st edition of Research and Reviews in the Fastlane. R&R in the Fastlane is a free resource that harnesses the power of social media to allow some of the best and brightest emergency medicine and critical care clinicians from all over the world tell us what they think is worth reading from the published literature.
This edition contains 10 recommended reads. The R&R Editorial Team includes Jeremy Fried, Nudrat Rashid, Soren Rudolph, Anand Swaminathan and, of course, Chris Nickson. Find more R&R in the Fastlane reviews in the R&R Archive, read more about the R&R project or check out...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - October 6, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Nudrat Rashid Tags: Anaesthetics Cardiology Education Emergency Medicine Gastroenterology Infectious Disease Intensive Care Pre-hospital / Retrieval Respiratory Resuscitation critical care literature R&R in the FASTLANE recommendations Research an Source Type: blogs
CoQ10: Powerful Supplement for Health
Discussion of the Evidence, Scope, Benefits and Risk. Please take a look at this discussion as I’m certain it will help answer some important questions. In addition, some very informative research about coenzyme Q10 can be found in the science section of our website.
Coenzyme Q10 is one of the most fundamentally important nutritional supplements I recommend and use in my clinical practice not just for patients with heart disease, but to support brain health and general health as well. We generally recommend 100mg daily, and 200mg daily for those on statins, beta-blockers, or tricyclic antidepressants.
The post CoQ10: Pow...
Source: Renegade Neurologist - A Blog by David Perlmutter, MD, FACN - August 19, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: gbadmin Tags: Science Supplements beta-blockers blood pressure Cardiovascular disease Cholesterol CoQ10 heart lipitor migraines Statins toprol zocor Source Type: blogs
IMPROVE-IT Trial Scheduled For Presentation In November
Results of the eagerly-awaited and highly controversial IMPROVE-IT trial are finally going to be revealed. The American Heart Association has announced that the trial will be presented by Chris Cannon on November 17 at 11:51 AM (central time) in Chicago at the group’s annual scientific sessions . IMPROVE-IT compared the effect on cardiovascular outcomes of the statin simvastatin with Vytorin (the combination of simvastatin and ezetimibe, manufactured by Merck) in more than 18,000 patients with acute coronary syndromes. Both Vytorin and IMPROVE-IT have been the subject of considerable controversy. … C...
Source: CardioBrief - August 12, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes cholesterol ezetimibe IMPROVE-IT LDL Merck vytorin Source Type: blogs
Nutritional Lipidology
I depart momentarily from the primary focus of the Wheat Belly Blog and discuss something that I have been following in practice for more than 10 years. I call it Nutritional Lipidology, the study of the effects of nutrition on lipids, lipoproteins, and metabolic parameters, the stuff underlying many diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases. It is indeed relevant to the Wheat Belly conversation, as wheat elimination and, even better, grain elimination, yields dramatic effects on lipids, lipoproteins, and the factors that drive cardiovascular risk. In fact, I have found these simple strategies so powerful that most peop...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - August 4, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle cholesterol HDL lipoproteins small LDL particles statin triglycerides Source Type: blogs
Ezetimibe In the Marketplace
Several years ago, the Schering-Plough cholesterol absorption inhibitor (Zetia, ezetimibe) and its combination pill with simvastatin (Vytorin) were the subject of a lot of puzzled controversy. A clinical trial (ENHANCE) looking at arterial wall thickness in patients with familial hypercholesteremia had unexpectedly shown little or no benefit, although statins themselves had worked in this population. This led to plenty of (still unresolved) speculation about the drug's mechanism of action, whether it really was going to be of benefit to the wider patient population, what this meant for the surrogate endpoint of LDL lowerin...
Source: In the Pipeline - March 24, 2014 Category: Chemists Tags: Cardiovascular Disease Source Type: blogs
Statins in the Spotlight
By Quinn Phillips
Two weeks ago, at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, that group — in partnership with the American College of Cardiology — released sweeping new guidelines on drug treatments for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Of the new recommendations contained within the guidelines, the one that is getting the most attention is a dramatic expansion in the number of people for whom statin drugs are recommended. Statins — the group of cholesterol-lowering drugs that includes atorvastatin (brand name Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), and rosuvastatin (Crestor) — were prev...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - November 27, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Australians Don't Like Polypharmacy, What About You?
Patients attending an ambulatory consulting service in Adelaide, Australia were queried regarding their feelings about stopping medications, and the results were reported in JAGS recently. The subjects, age 71 on average, were taking an average of ten medications. Most subjects thought they were taking a "large number" of medications and 92% said they'd be willing to stop one or more medication "if possible."
Big shocker for Pallimed readers, I'm sure. Who wants to take ten medications?
This survey included a geriatrics population and was published in a geriatrics journal. But if you practice palli...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - September 20, 2013 Category: Palliative Carer Workers Authors: Lyle Fettig, MD Source Type: blogs
Can Statins Prevent Dementia?
A study of nearly 58,000 patients found that high potency statins had the strongest protective effects against dementia.
+Alzheimer's Reading Room
High doses of statins prevent dementia in older people, according to research presented at the European Society of Cardiogists by Dr Tin-Tse Lin from Taiwan.
The study of nearly 58,000 patients found that high potency statins had the strongest protective effects against dementia.
“Statins are widely used in the older population to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But recent reports of statin-associated cognitive impairment have led the US Food and Drug Admi...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - September 2, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
Rerun: Happy 3rd birthday to the Health Business Blog
The Health Business Blog is on vacation this week and re-running some classic posts. This one is from March 2008, the third birthday of the Health Business Blog.
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The Health Business Blog is three years old, with close to 1700 posts and counting. For the first and second birthdays I picked out my favorite post by month, and I’m continuing that tradition today.
March 2007: Eye-popping generic pricing disparities
Retail prices for a 30 day supply of generic Zocor (simvastatin) ranged from $6.97 at Sam’s Club to $131.99 at Rite Aid. Can you imagine seeing price differentials like that for any other pro...
Source: Health Business Blog - August 20, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Announcements Blogs Source Type: blogs
Rerun: Happy 2nd birthday to the Health Business Blog
The Health Business Blog is on vacation this week and re-running some classic posts. This one is from March 2007, the second birthday of the Health Business Blog.
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The Health Business Blog is two years old now, with over 1100 posts and counting. For the first birthday I picked out a favorite post from each month. I’ve decided to make it a tradition.
March 2006: “Unsales” unconvincing
Some health plans are “counter-detailing,” sending reps to physician offices to encourage the use of generics and –even better from the health plan perspective –OTC products. The idea has some merit, but it’s ...
Source: Health Business Blog - August 19, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Announcements Blogs Source Type: blogs
Statins and their risk/benefit
A recent large Meta-analysis (a study which combined the results of 135 randomized trials) has shown that statins did not significantly increase risk for myalgia (muscle pain), myopathy (muscle weakness), rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown) or cancer as compared with control treatment. There was a slight increase in the risk of diabetes. I remain a strong believer in the benefit of statin therapy to reduce heart attack, strokes and death in patients with known heart disease and in those at intermediate-to-high risk for heart disease. See my prior blog posting explaining my rationale. I have also previously written ab...
Source: Dr Portnay - July 23, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr Portnay Source Type: blogs
Merck 'Evergreens' Off-Patent Lipitor By Creating Combination Drug With
No Additional Benefit
By Glyn MoodyBig pharma often gets a rather rough ride here on Techdirt, what with its attempts to stop governments granting licenses for life-saving and low-cost generics in emerging countries, engaging in legal action to prevent drug safety information being released, and paying kickbacks to doctors. But sometimes you get the impression that drug companies really go out of their way to be disliked, as this great post by Josh Bloom on the Medical Progress Today site, pointed out to us by John Wilbanks, demonstrates:[Merck] just received approval for the cholesterol-lowering combinat...
Source: PharmaGossip - July 11, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Low Rate Of Problems With Statins In Study Of Quarter Million Patients
A very large analysis of previously published studies finds that statins are generally safe and well tolerated, but helps confirm previous links to a small increased risk for diabetes and elevation of liver enzymes. Some statins were better tolerated than other statins and lower-dose statins were better tolerated than high dose statins. In a paper published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, Huseyin Naci and colleagues report their findings from a systematic review of clinical trials with statins for both primary and secondary prevention. The data from 55 placebo controlled trials and 80 trials inclu...
Source: CardioBrief - July 9, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes atorvastatin Pravastatin primary prevention Rosuvastatin secondary prevention Simvastatin Source Type: blogs
