Should Patients Continue Use Of Vytorin?
Patientshave begun “swamping” physician offices to ask whether they shouldend treatment with the cholesterol medication Vytorin, co-marketed by Merck and Schering-Plough, after a recent study found the treatment nomore effective than a treatment available in generic form in the prevention ofaccumulation of plaque on artery walls, the Wall Street Journalreports (Winslow, Wall Street Journal, 1/17). For the study, led by John Kastelein of the University of Amsterdam Medical Center, 720 participants took either Vytorin — acombination of Zetia, which blocks absorption of cholesterol in the intestines,and Zocor, a statin available in generic form — or Zocor alone. The study,which lasted two years, found that participants who took Vytorin experienced a58% decrease in their LDL cholesterol levels, compared with 41% for those whotook Zocor. However, the study found no statistically significant difference inthe accumulation of plaque on artery walls among participants who took Vytorinand thos
