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Long-term cholesterol buster use 'is safe'
Source: Agencies |
November 24, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Cholesterol lowering drugs continue to produce benefits without any serious safety problems, such as increased cancer risk, even after more than a decade of use, researchers said yesterday.
The finding from a large British clinical study following patients for 11 years provides reassurance for people at risk of heart attacks who are typically prescribed such medicines indefinitely.
So-called statin drugs are not without side effects. They can cause nausea, muscle pain, and occasional kidney and liver damage.
But long-term follow-up in the 20,000-patient Heart Protection Study (HPS) found no evidence that statins increased the risk of non-vascular mortality or made patients more likely to develop cancer.
Richard Bulbulia of the University of Oxford's Clinical Trial Service Unit, one of the leaders of the trial, said the persistence of the benefit and the long-term evidence of safety was "remarkable."
Outside experts agreed it was reassuring. Some past studies have indicated a possible cancer risk with statins, although a major analysis by US researchers three years ago found no causal link.
"Concerns should be put to rest, and doctors should feel reassured about the long-term safety of this life-saving treatment for patients at increased cardiovascular risk," Payal Kohli and Christopher Cannon of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital wrote in a commentary in The Lancet medical journal.
The study assessed the benefits of 40 milligrams daily of simvastatin, the active ingredient of Merck & Co's now off-patent drug Zocor. Other popular statin medicines include Pfizer's Lipitor and AstraZeneca's Crestor.
The finding from a large British clinical study following patients for 11 years provides reassurance for people at risk of heart attacks who are typically prescribed such medicines indefinitely.
So-called statin drugs are not without side effects. They can cause nausea, muscle pain, and occasional kidney and liver damage.
But long-term follow-up in the 20,000-patient Heart Protection Study (HPS) found no evidence that statins increased the risk of non-vascular mortality or made patients more likely to develop cancer.
Richard Bulbulia of the University of Oxford's Clinical Trial Service Unit, one of the leaders of the trial, said the persistence of the benefit and the long-term evidence of safety was "remarkable."
Outside experts agreed it was reassuring. Some past studies have indicated a possible cancer risk with statins, although a major analysis by US researchers three years ago found no causal link.
"Concerns should be put to rest, and doctors should feel reassured about the long-term safety of this life-saving treatment for patients at increased cardiovascular risk," Payal Kohli and Christopher Cannon of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital wrote in a commentary in The Lancet medical journal.
The study assessed the benefits of 40 milligrams daily of simvastatin, the active ingredient of Merck & Co's now off-patent drug Zocor. Other popular statin medicines include Pfizer's Lipitor and AstraZeneca's Crestor.
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