Word: gemfibrozil
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...wary of side effects. Doctors have long known that the statins can trigger a rare breakdown of muscle tissue. (Stopping the drugs at the first sign of trouble usually halts the breakdown.) For some reason, patients who took Baycol--especially at higher doses or with another drug called gemfibrozil--were at greater risk. Bayer decided to drop Baycol in part because its attempts to alert doctors to those situations didn't always work. Drugs like the statins have the potential to save thousands of lives, and COX-2 inhibitors can relieve untold suffering. The trick, as always, is in figuring...
...have a genetic disorder that results in very high levels of LDL and low levels of HDL. Daniel has suffered a heart attack, and both brothers have had bypass surgery. Now the Brunos are on low-saturated-fat diets and are taking lovastatin. In addition, Michael is taking gemfibrozil. Since the brothers started their programs, Michael's total cholesterol has fallen from 224 to 184, and Daniel's from 325 to 201. Both brothers' HDL levels have gone up sharply. "I can't imagine that I used to sit down to a 1 1/2-lb. T-bone steak," Michael says. "Today...
Physicians advise that the study results do not point to a miracle drug that will provide a risk-free cure for heart disease. For example, gemfibrozil seems to predispose people to develop gallstones. Moreover, doctors recommend that anticholesterol drugs, including lovastatin, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in September, should be used only as a last resort...
...drug, called gemfibrozil, was originally approved for treatment of a pancreatic disorder. In a five-year study of more than 4,000 Finnish men, those treated with the drug suffered only two-thirds as many heart attacks and cardiac-related deaths. After three years of treatment, that fraction dropped to less than half. "This is the largest decrease in coronary disease seen in any trial," said Heikki Frick, a University of Helsinki scientist who took over the study in 1986 after its originator, Cardiologist Esko Nikkila, died in an auto accident...
...Finnish study shows that raising HDL levels also leads to a decreased risk of heart disease. Each of the participants, while otherwise healthy, was chosen for his high overall cholesterol level. Starting in 1981, doctors gave half the test group gemfibrozil, which, among other effects, increases HDL while moderately lowering LDL. The other half received a placebo. More than 82,000 visits to the clinic and 500,000 blood tests later, the LDL levels of the men given gemfibrozil had dropped 8% and their HDL levels had risen more than...
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