|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Drugs that Stop Bad Cholesterol in Different Ways
Produce Dramatic Results Together
Zetia taken with the statin Crestor lowered bad
cholesterol 70 percent
| |
 |
|
| |
Both Crestor and Zetia
encourage exercise. |
|
Feb. 27, 2007 The results of a clinical trial
that were released in September and published this week found that
patients could lower their bad cholesterol by 70 percent and reduce
life-threatening inflammation that can lead to heart disease and stroke.
These results were achieved by taking two drugs - the statin
rosuvastatin (Crestor), which lowers the amount of cholesterol produced
by the liver, and ezetimibe (Zetia), another cholesterol-lowering
medication, but one that works by preventing the absorption of
cholesterol in the intestine.
(Results of the study are below this
report on the drugs.)
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
Statin Users Risk Heart Attack by Dropping Drugs or
Taking Low Doses
Projects 5-7,000 Americans
yearly suffer unnecessary heart attacks
December 8, 2006 - Thousands of statin users
primarily older people - worldwide are suffering preventable heart
attacks, simply because they are not complying with their treatment or
they are taking too low a dose, according to new research published
online yesterday in European Heart Journal. These life-saving drugs,
used to lower cholesterol levels in people at risk of coronary heart
disease (CHD), can only be optimally effective if patients use them
properly and many are not.
Read more...
Statins Reduce Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke in
Seniors Without Heart Disease
But not coronary heart disease or overall risk of
death
November
27, 2006 Statins are now frequently prescribed for senior citizens to
prevent future cardiovascular disease. But, among individuals without
cardiovascular disease, taking statins regularly may reduce the risk of
major heart and cerebrovascular problems (blood vessels that supply the
brain), such as heart attack and stroke, but not coronary heart disease
(disease of the coronary arteries and veins), or overall risk of death,
according to an analysis reported todays issue of Archives of Internal
Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Generic of the Statin Drug Zocor Approved by
FDA after Court Refuses Delay
Cholesterol
drug cost to drop $14 million a year, says HealthPartners
June
23, 2006 Hailing the action as an important step in the Food and Drug
Administration's effort to increase the availability of lower-cost
generic medications, the agency today approved the first generic version
of the statin Zocor (simvastatin). Last minute efforts by the drug
company Novartis to temporarily block the Simvastatin release, to allow
time to introduce its own generic version, was denied by a federal judge
earlier today. (Read the story on HealthPartners selling simvastatin
today below this report.)
Read more...
Statins Reduce Risk of Glaucoma, Macular
Degeneration, Eye Problems
Cholesterol-lowering
drugs improve circulation in the eye
May 9, 2006 The increasing numbers of senior
citizens being advised to take cholesterol-lowering medications known as
statins may get an extra benefit. A new study says the drugs also
improve circulation in the eye, potentially reducing the risk of
glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and other eye conditions.
Read more...
FDA Approves Generic Cholesterol and Leg Pain Drugs
Encouraging news for senior citizens needing to
save on drugs
April 25, 2006 Numerous studies have shown senior
citizens can save tremendous amounts of money by using generic drugs,
even in the Medicare prescription drug program. The Food and Drug
Administration today announced approvals for two generics that will be
of interest to many older people. The first, Pravastatin, is a generic
version of the cholesterol-lowering drug Pravachol. The second,
Cilostazol, is a generic for Pletal, which is prescribed for those who
get pain in the legs when walking.
Read more...
Read the latest news on Senior
Health & Medicine |
|
You have probably seen the Zetia commercials on
television promoting the prescription drug as "A different way to help
fight cholesterol." You probably scratched your head, a little puzzled.
Most of us, when we think of drugs to lower cholesterol, think of
statins, like Crestor.
The statins have held the spotlight in the fight
against bad cholesterol and are prescribed for millions of senior
citizens. They work by lowering the cholesterol produced by the liver.
Zetia, on the other hand, reduces cholesterol, too,
but, as the commercial says, in a different way. The company says Zetia
"is unique in the way it helps block the absorption of cholesterol that
comes from food. Statins work mainly with the liver. Zetia works in the
digestive tract, as do some other medicines."
They also say at
www.Zetia.com that when taken "along with a statin, (Zetia) has been
proven to lower bad cholesterol another 36 points. Thats 25%." They
point out that "these are average results. Individual results may vary."
Both Crestor and Zetia on their Website emphasize
the need to also eat health and exercise. Both sites, too, offer some
ideas to help.
"Sometimes, people resist taking medicine to lower
their cholesterol because they think all they need is willpower," says
the Crestor site. "They think if they just cut a little more fat out of
their diet, and make it to the gym once more each week, that should do
it. But studies have shown that, for many people, diet and exercise
don't lower cholesterol enough."
Crestor adds, "One reason is that most of the
cholesterol in our blood is made right inside our bodies, by the liver."
"And that's where Crestor works. It lowers the
amount of cholesterol produced by the liver. Crestor can cut the bad
cholesterol by about half (52% at the 10-mg dose versus 7% with placebo;
your results may vary)."
>>
www.Zetia.com >>
www.crestor.com
About ezetimibe (Zetia)
from Medline
Ezetimibe is used together with lifestyle changes
(diet, weight-loss, exercise) to reduce the amount of cholesterol (a
fat-like substance) and other fatty substances in the blood. It may be
used alone or in combination with a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor
(statin).
Ezetimibe is in a class of medications called
cholesterol-lowering medications. It works by preventing the absorption
of cholesterol in the intestine.
Buildup of cholesterol and fats along the walls of
the blood vessels (a process known as atherosclerosis) decreases blood
flow and, therefore, the oxygen supply to the heart, brain, and other
parts of the body. Lowering blood levels of cholesterol and fats may
help to decrease your chances of getting heart disease, angina (chest
pain), strokes, and heart attacks.
In addition to taking a cholesterol-lowering
medication, making certain changes in your daily habits can also lower
your cholesterol blood levels. You should eat a diet that is low in
saturated fat and cholesterol (see SPECIAL DIETARY), exercise 30 minutes
on most, if not all days, and lose weight if you are overweight.
>>
More about ezetimibe at Medline, click
About rosuvastatin (Crestor)
from Medline
 Rosuvastatin
is used together with lifestyle changes (diet, weight-loss, exercise) to
reduce the amount of cholesterol (a fat-like substance) and other fatty
substances in your blood. Rosuvastatin is in a class of medications
called HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins). It works by slowing the
production of cholesterol in the body.
Buildup of cholesterol and other fats along the
walls of the blood vessels (a process known as atherosclerosis)
decreases blood flow and, therefore, the oxygen supply to the heart,
brain, and other parts of the body.
Lowering blood levels of cholesterol and fats may
help to decrease your chances of getting heart disease, angina (chest
pain), strokes, and heart attacks. In addition to taking a
cholesterol-lowering medication, making certain changes in your daily
habits can also lower your cholesterol blood levels.
You should eat a diet that is low in saturated fat
and cholesterol, exercise 30 minutes on most, if not all days, and lose
weight if you are overweight.
>>
More about rosuvastatin at Medline, click
The clinical trial
Bad Cholesterol Reduced Record-Setting 70 Percent by
Combination of Drugs
Taking the statin Crestor with
cholesterol-stopper Zetia also lowers life-threatening inflammation
Feb. 27, 2007 Taking a combination of the statin
rosuvastatin (Crestor), which lowers the amount of cholesterol produced
by the liver, with ezetimibe (Zetia), another cholesterol-lowering
medication, but one that works by preventing the absorption of
cholesterol in the intestine, patients were able to reduce their bad
cholesterol by as much as 70 percent. The researchers at Methodist
DeBakey Heart Center in Houston say this is "the largest reduction" ever
seen in a statin clinical trial.
Additionally, the researchers say, in has the added
benefit of reducing life-threatening inflammation that can lead to heart
disease and stroke.
The results were released last September but published this week in the
American
Journal of Cardiology, show 46 percent reduction in C-reactive protein
(CRP), a marker for inflammation, in patients treated with 40 mg of rosuvastatin (Crestor) and 10 mg ezetimibe (Zetia).
A seventy percent drop is the largest reduction in
bad cholesterol ever seen in a statin clinical trial. Cardiologists have
long recognized the challenge in helping high-risk patients reach their
target cholesterol levels, to ultimately prevent heart attack and
stroke, said Dr. Christie Ballantyne, cardiologist at the Methodist
DeBakey Heart Center and principal investigator for the study.
These
results offer hope for these patients.
In addition, inflammation can lead to serious
complications such as heart attack and stroke, and high levels of CRP
can predict these risks years before they actually occur, Ballantyne
said.
Physicians have long relied on blood cholesterol as
a key indicator of cardiovascular risk, but recent research suggests
that high risk patients who achieved a low CRP level combined with a low
LDL-C level had the fewest cardiovascular events.
The highly effective reductions in both LDL-C and
CRP seen in the EXPLORER study provide a new opportunity for high-risk
patients to achieve optimal reduction in both factors with combination
therapy, Ballantyne said.
Key findings from EXPLORER study:
● Crestor (rosuvastatin) and Zetia (ezetimibe)
reduced mean LDL-C by an unprecedented 70%.
● Significantly more patients achieved their
NCEP ATP III LDL-C goal of <100 mg/dL (94% vs. 79%) at six weeks with
Crestor and Zetia compared with Crestor monotherapy.
● Crestor and Zetia reduced CRP levels by 46%
compared with 29% with Crestor monotherapy.
● Both Crestor monotherapy and Crestor combined
with ezetimibe produced similar increases in HDL-C (good cholesterol)
(8.5% vs. 10.8%).
● Crestor and ezetimibe were both well
tolerated.
The study, EXPLORER (Examination of Potential Lipid
modifying effects Of Rosuvastatin in combination with Ezetimibe versus
Rosuvastatin alone), was a 12-week, randomized trial of 469 patients
with LDL-C 160-<250 mg/dL (4.1-<6.5 mmol/L) and coronary heart disease (CHD)
or CHD risk equivalent designed to evaluate whether adding ezetimibe to
CRESTOR would enable more patients with severely high cholesterol to
achieve guideline lipid goals compared with Crestor monotherapy.
Patients participated in a six-week dietary lead-in
followed by six weeks of randomized treatment with rosuvastatin 40 mg
alone or in combination with ezetimibe 10 mg.
Editor's Notes:
About the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center
The Methodist DeBakey Heart Center is a world-renowned organization that
is continuing the ground-breaking work begun by famed heart care
pioneer, Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, and his associates, who developed many
of today's life-saving techniques, tools and procedures at The Methodist
Hospital.
Located in Houston, the Methodist DeBakey Heart
Center combines research, prevention, diagnostic care, surgery and
rehabilitation services in a coordinated multi-disciplinary program with
one focus: delivering compassionate, effective care and treatment to
patients with heart disease. Patient care teams provide the full range
of cardiac care, ensuring high-quality care and satisfaction to those
served. "Experience, combined with the latest advances in technology and
research, allows patients to access the best possible care and treatment
in a caring, spiritual environment," the hospital says.
Reference: Ballantyne CM, Weiss R, Moccetti T, Vogt
A, Eber B, Sosef F, Duffield E, for the EXPLORER Study Investigators.
Efficacy and safety of rosuvastatin 40 mg alone or in combination with
ezetimibe in patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease (results
from the EXPLORER study). Am J Cardiol 2007;99:673-680.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
