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Article: Vytorin study raises questions about Cholesterol's Import.
- Article from:
- HealthFacts
- Article date:
- February 1, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Center for Medical Consumers, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A firestorm of bad publicity erupted over cholesterol drugs last month when an expensive combination drug proved to be no better than an older drug alone. This finding was suppressed for 20 months by Merck and Schering-Plough, the two companies that make Vytorin, which is a one-pill combination of Zetia and Zocor. Their two-year trial failed to prove that Vytorin is better than Zocor alone for slowing plaque accumulation; instead atherosclerosis worsened in those taking Vytorin.
But the study results were not revealed until the two drug companies were pressured into doing so by an article in The New York Times and a Congressional inquiry. Worldwide, about one ...