July 13, 2004
New cholesterol guidelines issued
by Candace Hoffmann
The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) released new US guidelines advising that people at high and moderately high risk for heart attacks aggressively lower their LDL cholesterol, a move that will likely require more treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs, The New York Times and other news sources report.
Currently, patients in the high-risk category for heart disease were advised to aim for an LDL level of 100 milligrams per decilitre. The new guidelines advise that the goal should now be 70 milligrams per decilitre or lower.
According to the previous guidelines, some 36 million people in the US should be on a statin therapy, but in reality only about 11 million take the drugs, as reported in Forbes. The new guidelines would increase the number of those who should be taking statins to some 50 million people, according to Christopher P. Cannon, a cardiologist at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston.
The new guidelines suggest that even people at moderate risk of heart attacks should lower their LDL cholesterol by 30 to 40 percent, to an LDL level below 130 milligrams per decilitre. Patients at low risk should try to keep their LDL cholesterol below 160 milligrams per decilitre.
The new recommendations will mean that some patients may need to be treated with higher doses of statin drugs and could prove a boost for Pfizer's Lipitor as well as AstraZeneca's Crestor, as reported in Forbes. Merck's and Schering-Plough's Vytorin, which combines Merck's Zocor with the two drugmakers' other joint venture, Zetia, could also benefit from the new guidelines once it reaches the market.
The NCEP guidelines are published in the current issue of Circulation and are endorsed by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
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