On the CBS Evening News (11/17, story 7, 1:50, Pelley) , CBS’ Dr. Jon Lapook reported that a study presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association “may change the way” physicians “treat patients with heart attacks or severe chest pain.”
The New York Times (11/18, Kolata, Subscription Publication) reports that “the six-year study...involved 18,000 people who had had heart attacks or episodes of chest pain so severe they went to a hospital.” Participants “were randomly assigned to take” simvastatin or Vytorin (ezetimibe and simvastatin). Investigators found that “there were 6.4 percent fewer cardiac events — heart disease deaths, heart attacks, strokes, bypass surgeries, stent insertions and hospitalizations for severe chest pain — in those assigned to take Vytorin.”
USA Today (11/18, Weintraub) reports that participants given Vytorin “had an average LDL cholesterol of 54 mg/dL, compared with 69 mg/dL for those treated with just the statin.” Study leader Dr. Christopher Cannon “said the study shows that patients and doctors need to continue focusing on lowering cholesterol.” USA Today adds that the study is “the first to show that a different type of cholesterol-lowering drug can improve upon statins.” Dr. Patrick O’Gara, president of the American College of Cardiology, said, “The past is littered with trials that adding anything to statins is not effective.”
The AP (11/18, Marchione) reports that the data indicated that “for every 56 people taking Vytorin for seven years, one additional heart attack, stroke or heart-related death would be prevented.”
The Washington Post (11/17, Cha) “To Your Health” blog reports that “Merck says it plans to submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration in mid-2015 to get approval to market the drug for reducing major cardiovascular events.”
On its website, CBS News (11/18, LaPook) points out that “one year ago, new cardiology guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology suggested” physicians “stop targeting specific LDL levels because there was no good evidence one low level was better than another.”
In Forbes (11/17), Matthew Herper writes, “At the heart of the Vytorin story is a big scientific question: how much can we trust that lowering the bad cholesterol, known as low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, means preventing heart attacks.” While this research “won’t completely settle this issue...it does mean that scientists and doctors will assume that cutting LDL means preventing heart attacks and strokes.” Also covering the story are the NPR (11/18, Hensley) “Shots” blog, Reuters (11/18, Berkrot), Modern Healthcare (11/18, Rice, Subscription Publication), the Boston Globe (11/18, Kotz) “Daily Dose” blog, Bloomberg News (11/17, Cortez), MedPage Today (11/18, Peck), Medscape (11/18, O'Riordan), HealthDay (11/18, Thompson), the Wall Street Journal (11/18, Winslow, Subscription Publication), and the Wall Street Journal (11/17, Silverman) “Pharmalot” blog.
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