Published 3 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1493
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1493

Letters

Hypercholesterolaemia

Reasons to be cautious about cholesterol lowering drugs

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

There are reasons to be cautious about prescribing all cholesterol lowering drugs.¹ The West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reactions, which produces the Adverse Drug Reaction Bulletin, has recently issued a warning via the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concerning a potentially increased risk of cancer associated with simvastatin and ezetimibe when used in combination (Vytorin).²

The FDA is apparently investigating a report from the simvastatin and ezetimibe in aortic stenosis trial. This trial tested whether lowering low density lipoprotein cholesterol with Vytorin would reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in people with aortic stenosis. A lower overall cardiovascular risk was not found with Vytorin. However, the trial found that a larger proportion of subjects treated with Vytorin were diagnosed with and died from all types of cancer combined compared with those given placebo during the five year study.

Of course, there is no need to panic. The FDA . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Flitwick Surgery, Flitwick, Bedfordshire MK45 1DZ

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