Zetia in Vytorin Does Not Stop Plaque Buildup; Better Off with Just Simivastatin

Jan. 15, 2008 – The bottom line for cholesterol-fighting senior citizens is that Zetia does not work in reducing your heart disease risk. It does not reduce your risk of clogged arteries as a part of Vytorin, either. You are better off with a generic statin. That is the message derived from a new release yesterday by the manufacturers explaining the results of resent testing.

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“The good news was that Vytorin, which is a combination of Zetia and Zocor, lowered low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol -- that's the bad kind -- more than Zocor alone.

"That's not a big surprise, since previous clinical trials have shown that Zetia works well in combination and by itself. The previous trials are the reason Zetia and Vytorin have both become multibillion-dollar drugs,” writes Brian Orelli on The Motley Fool.

“The bad news was that the lowered cholesterol didn't translate into less plaque in the arteries. Vytorin and Zocor caused a change in thickness of the arteries that was statistically the same after two years of use.

“In clinical trials, the same is often good enough, but the problem for the cholesterol-fighting duo is that Zocor is available as a much cheaper generic.”

Vytorin contains simvastatin (the generic for Zocor) and ezetimibe (Zetia).

The announcement of the clinical trial results raised questions among cardiologists both about the medicine’s effectiveness and about the behavior of the pharmaceutical companies that conducted the study, according to an extensive report in the New York Times.

“Merck and Schering-Plough, which make the drug, Zetia, and a pill that contains it, Vytorin, said Monday morning that Zetia had failed to benefit patients in a two-year trial that ended in April 2006,” reported in Alex Berenson in the NY Times.

Below are links to the complete package of information released by Merck:

>> Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals Provides Results of the ENHANCE Trial