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Thursday, August 14, 2014

Study Warns of Risks From Use of Niacin for Controlling Cholesterol

USA Today (7/17, Weintraub, Today) reported that “niacin, a drug commonly prescribed to prevent stroke and heart attack, appears to add little benefit to the statins it is usually taken with, but it may cause significant risks, according to a new study and editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine.” Researchers found that “as many as one in 200 patients may have died as a result of taking the combination of niacin and laropiprant, a drug intended to reduce the facial flushing caused by niacin.”

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