Heart Patients taking Crestor Statin
Prescription Drug removed Plaque Build-up in their Arteries
March 13th,
2006
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Crestor
manufactured by AstraZeneca |
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This has been a
landmark trial for the use of a cholesterol drug to reverse the buildup
of plaque in coronary artery disease patients.
The Anglo-Swedish
pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, reported this past Monday that
their cholesterol drug, Crestor, has shown to reverse the
atherosclerosis in a major clinical study.
The study was
conducted over a two year period with 349 patients taking 40 milligrams
of Crestor, a statin drug, once each day. There were two-thirds of
these patients that had shown regression of heart artery plaque build up
when they were taking the maximum dose of Crestor.
Crestor is one of
the strongest statin drugs on the market for cholesterol and there has
been concern by the Food and Drug administration for the serious side
effects. There are consumer groups lobbying to have it removed from the
market. The side effects are serious muscle problems and kidney
damage. Asians are especially at risk for complications with this
medication.
According to a
news report by ABC News channel 7 in Los Angeles said that the Food and
Drug Administration refused to remove the drug off the market. Instead
the Food and Drug Administration had put a warning of the possible side
effects put on the label.
The study was
funded by AstraZeneca PLC who is the manufacturer of Crestor. Dr.
Steven Nissen who is a cardiologist at a Cleveland Clinic led the
research and first reported the results at the American College of
Cardiology. The complete report will be printed in the April 5th issue
of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study showed
that Crestor dramatically lowered LDL “bad” cholesterol. The patient’s
blood started at around 130 and went down to 60 milligrams per deciliter
of blood. The HDL “good” cholesterol went up slightly from 43 up to 49
at the end of the trial.
This study give
hope to people that suffers from heart disease as this study shows that
plaque in the arteries can be reversed. It also should give incentive
to everyone and to know the importance of lowering their LDL “bad”
cholesterol levels. The researchers are not sure if the reversal will
mean that there will be fewer heart attacks as it is too soon to know.
A previous article
by Best Syndication wrote about a study that was able to lower
cholesterol through diet modification. Since there are potential side
effects with cholesterol lowering medications, it would be optimal to
work on the diet in combination with the prescription drugs to lower
cholesterol levels.
Nicole Wilson
Best Syndication
Cholesterol Books at Amazon
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