Statin: Regulators extend licence, even though it doesn’t help heart patients

[Guest guest]

On the very day when AstraZeneca's cholesterol-lowering statin drug

Crestor (rosuvastatin calcium) was approved to treat atherosclerosis

(hardening of the arteries), it was revealed it wasn't helping

patients with heart problems.

Crestor is one of the world's most successful drugs with annual sales

of $2bn, and those sales are likely to double very quickly now that

it can also be used for atherosclerosis. Other statin drug

manufacturers are expected to follow AstraZeneca's lead.

But researchers have discovered that the drug isn't even good at what

it was originally intended to do. The drug doesn't help prevent

heart patients from suffering a heart attack or stroke, and it

certainly doesn't reduce their chances of dying from a heart problem.

But the news came too late America's drug regulator, the Food and

Drug Administration (FDA), which, on the same day, widened the drug's

remit.

(Sources: Reuter's; The Times, November 5, 2007).

Story from WDDTY:

http://www.wddty.com/03363800373029194341/statin-regulators-extend-

licence-even-though-it-doesn-t-help-heart-patients.html

 

Published: 15/11/2007 11:50:49 GMT

 

© WDDTY MMVI