The End Of Statins (not now, not till drug patents expire)

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The End Of Statins

(not now, not till drug patents expire)

http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/report.asp?story=The%20End%20Of%20Statins &

catagory=Drugs,%20Heart%20Disease,%20Cholesterol

 

When will the mistaken idea that cholesterol is the primary cause of heart

attacks and strokes finally be discarded into the trash bin of unproven medical

therapies? The quick answer: when statin drug patents expire.

 

If you are among the many millions of Americans who continue to be misled

over the alleged link between cholesterol and heart disease, listen to what

these

recent reports say:

 

Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland

Clinic, was recently quoted in the New York Times to say: " If we put statin

drugs

in the water supply, cardiovascular disease would still be the leading cause of

death in most western countries. " [New York Times Dec. 4, 2006]

 

Researchers at the Nutrition Laboratory, Domaine de la Merci, in Grenoble,

France, say: " After careful analysis of the available data, including randomized

trials, indicates that, contrary to a widespread opinion, cholesterol

lowering does not appear to be a very effective way of reducing cardiac and

overall

mortality in the general population. " [Nutrition Metabolism Cardiovascular

Disease

16: 387-90, 2006]

 

And while most of the public continues to be phobic over cholesterol- rich

foods, it has never been demonstrated that eggs, the most cholesterol-rich food,

raises cholesterol levels. If you are still eating egg whites and not the

yolks, consider a recent study of 9734 adults where it was found that

consumption

of greater than 6 eggs per week (average of 1 egg or greater per day) not

only does not raise cholesterol levels but also does not increase the risk of

coronary artery disease or stroke. [Medical Science Monitoring 13: CR1-8, 2006]

 

Consider a recently published study of 9216 adults over age 30 in Japan.

After 17 years of study, the group of men with the lowest cholesterol had a 377%

increased risk for stroke. The risk for cardiovascular disease mortality among

males and females after 17 years was 4/10ths of 1% in the lowest cholesterol

group (below 160 total cholesterol) and 8/10ths of 1% in the highest

cholesterol group (above 260 total cholesterol). While nearly double the

relative risk

of death, the absolute difference in risk is nil and this data simply means

less than 1 out of 100 adults attempting to lower their cholesterol would avert

a

mortal health attack over a 17-year period. [Atherosclerosis 190: 216-23,

Jan. 2007]

 

So why are Americans continually being advised to lower their cholesterol and

to take statin drugs? It makes about as much sense as taking antacid

medications did to treat so-called " stress-induced " stomach ulcers in the 1980s

and

early 1990s.

 

For many years Americans were told gastric ulcers were caused by

stress-induced stomach acid. Zantac, a patented antacid drug, was prescribed for

this

condition. Over $1 billion of Zantac was sold each year.

 

But for over a decade Dr. Barry Marshall, and Dr. J. Robin Warren of

Australia had been saying gastric ulcers were caused by a bacterium, not stomach

acid.

[Lancet 1 (8336), 1273-75, 1983]

 

With Zantac, ulcers kept recurring and it was good business for doctors, and

the makers of Zantac. Drs. Marshall and Warren kept pressing for reform of

ulcer treatment, demonstrating in studies that ulcers didn't recur when patients

were placed on germ-killing antibiotics.

 

In 1988 Dr. Marshall submitted the findings to the New England Journal of

Medicine. Reviewers rejected the study as inconclusive. An infectious disease

expert from a major American university claimed Dr. Marshall was a " madman " and

his ideas were " preposterous. "

 

It took from 1982 to 1997 for antibiotic therapy to come into vogue. Why

1997? Well, the patent for Zantac expired in late 1996 and became an

over-the-counter drug. The monopoly on Zantac was worth millions of dollars per

day in

profits for every single day that it lasted.

 

US health authorities had certainly known of Drs. Marshall's and Warren's

published studies showing antibiotics killed H. pylori, the bacterium that

causes

ulcers. But the FDA never revoked use of Zantac for ulcer treatment.

 

Even after a National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference about H.

pylori and ulcer disease, doctors were still reluctant to switch from Zantac to

antibiotic therapy. [Journal American Medical Assn 272: 65-69, 1994] After

dragging their feet for over a decade, the Centers for Disease Control issued a

report about the causes of ulcer disease. [Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report

46: 985-87, 1997] It took till 2005 for these Australian doctors to be awarded a

Nobel Prize for their discovery. [Gastroenterology Clinics North America 22:

183-98, 1993]

 

Getting back to the topic of cholesterol, the Zocor statin drug patent has

just expired (2005), and the Pravachol patent will expire in 2006. These drugs

were generating billions of dollars of sales. The patent on Lipitor, the

biggest selling statin drug ever, is set to expire in 2010 and there is no

replacement in sight. The first of many patents for Crestor will not expire till

2012.

Until that time, don't anticipate American medicine to change course and inform

the public that cholesterol-lowering drugs may only prevent imaginary cases

of heart attack and stroke.

 

© 2007 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.