Expensive cholesterol drug no better than vitamin

By David Liu

A new study released Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that a widely prescribed and expensive cholesterol drug known as Zetia made by Merck is not as effective as niacin, a vitamin in reducing artery buildups in people already taking statins.

Statins are the common medications used to lower cholesterol, which is believed to raise heart risk even though critics say the preventative effect from statins is limited and the drugs are not cost-effective.

Niacin is a cheap vitamin (vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid) that is water soluble. Pharmacologic doses of nicotinic acid have been used to reduce serum cholesterol since 1955, according to Linus Pauling Institute. This vitamin is commonly used together with other lipid-lowering medications.

Niacin is found in chicken meat, tuna, salmon, cereal or cereal fortified with niacin and tuna. It is recommended that adults aged 19 or older should get 35 mg per day.  The form of vitamin B3 in the study is a prescription drug known as Niaspan.

The current study is the third one that raises questions about the effectiveness of Zetia and another similar drug known as Vytorin, which earn Merck billions of dollars each year.

Steven Nissen, a world-famous heart specialist at the Cleveland Clinic was quoted by Washington Post as saying "The studies are telling us that it doesn't appear to produce benefits. This is a drug used by millions of Americans, a very big seller, in a health-care system where costs are a major issue. And the question has to be, is this the right approach?"

zetia.com says "Unlike some statins, ZETIA has not been shown to prevent heart disease or heart attacks."