Statin drug: New cancer alert

email to friend Printer friendly

11 September 2008

A new drugs alert has gone out this week, warning heart patients that a statin drug for lowering cholesterol may cause cancer.

America’s drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), issued the warning yesterday (September 10) after reviewing the findings of a study into Vytorin, a combination of the two statin drugs simvastatin and ezetimibe.

The researchers have found that many more Vytorin patients developed different cancers, including skin cancer, than those given a placebo, during the five years of the trial.

The FDA points out that the cancer risk has been discovered only in a trial known as SEAS (Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis), while other trials into Vytorin haven’t found any risk.

(Source: FDA website).

Related WDDTY Content

Cholesterol lowering - The statin 'wonder' drugs

Statins are the new wonder drugs now used to prevent everything from heart disease to Alzheimer's. But new evidence from a Finnish doctor shows that s...

Half of people taking a cholesterol-lowering statin not helped by the drug

Nearly half the people taking a cholesterol-lowering statin drug get no benefit from it. Instead, they should be eating a good diet and maintaining a...

Flaxseeds as good as a drug for lowering cholesterol

A few tablespoons of flaxseeds every day can be as effective as a powerful drug in lowering your cholesterol levels, a new study has discovered.

Cyclosporin raises skin cancer risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis treatment that includes the immunosuppressant cyclosporin along with psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) light therapy is associated with a si...

Cholesterol lowering: - Diet is as good as a statin

Your cholesterol levels are a little on the high side. Almost without thinking, your doctor reaches for his pad to write a prescription for a statin...

Statins: They do increase prostate cancer risk if you’re overweight

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs increase the risk of prostate cancer in overweight men, a new study has discovered.

What our readers and members say about WDDTY

As an ex medical writer for a top laboratory, I would like to congratulate you on what you are doing. You have made a brave move which is bound to make waves and I am sure your information is an eye-opener to many people. To practitioners like me, who so often have to cope with iatrogenic states, you are a godsend. Thank you

- J.T., London

I value the whistle-blowing, myth-breaking and original information I’ve received over the years. Sometimes it’s been well ahead of public and even NHS awareness.

- R.L., Sturminster Newton

You disseminate information so that we can make informed choices as to the safest, most efficacious treatments. We are guided by your information to, hopefully, a better and safer life. You highlight the hazards of allopathic medicine and people are thankful for that.

- S.S., Chippenham

Keep up the good work. WDDTY is an invaluable source of up-to-date information which would be difficult for anyone not in the medical field to access any other way.

- S W-S, London WDDTY is informative, delightfully provocative, clearly and concisely written. You provide a much-needed antidote to the prevailing orthodoxy. I have made many of your articles available to patients who are trying to make decisions on the many topics you cover and they have all said how helpful they were. - M.C., London Your publication puts truth at a premium and empowers victims of medical arrogance—long may you flourish. - G.R., York