Email a Friend
Print Article
Promising news for lower cholesterol
Reuters News has a story that Pfizer has a new drug heading into phase III trials that shows promise in the area of increasing the "good" HDL cholesterol. The drug, called torcetrapib, has no "brand" name yet, and Pfizer expects to market it as a combination pill with its statin drug Lipitor. This is because the early trials have shown that torcetrapib is better at decreasing levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol when it is combined with Lipitor.
Although this means it will be some time yet before we see this drug on the market, this is the first really different drug that medicine has had in a long while to improve cholesterol. It's especially good that it increases HDL levels, because the only other drug that does this, niacin and brand name Niaspan, can be poorly tolerated by many individuals. It will be interesting to see what the major side effects are with torcetrapib, and how frequently it is discontinued in the the trial by individuals who find the side effects too uncomfortable to tolerate. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this one works out well!
Laurie
Related Topics: Cholesterol 101, Lower Cholesterol, Lower Heart Disease Risk
Although this means it will be some time yet before we see this drug on the market, this is the first really different drug that medicine has had in a long while to improve cholesterol. It's especially good that it increases HDL levels, because the only other drug that does this, niacin and brand name Niaspan, can be poorly tolerated by many individuals. It will be interesting to see what the major side effects are with torcetrapib, and how frequently it is discontinued in the the trial by individuals who find the side effects too uncomfortable to tolerate. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this one works out well!
Laurie
Related Topics: Cholesterol 101, Lower Cholesterol, Lower Heart Disease Risk
