In 2004, the FDA sponsored a study on occurrences of rhabdomyolysis, a sometimes deadly side effect of cholesterol-lowering statins, generally believed to be rare after the withdrawal of cerivastatin. The FDA study looked at patients using statins for a period of one year, with results showing that only 0.44 in 10,000 patients will develop this sometimes life-threatening condition. The creators of eHealthMe.

Elderly people who take a cholesterol drug after a stroke or mini-stroke lower their risk of having another stroke just as much as younger people in the same situation, according to research published in the September 3, 2008, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

New research commissioned by Flora pro.activ revealed that two thirds of GPs polled feel that it is very important for patients on cholesterol-lowering medication to also ensure they eat a healthy diet to improve heart health. According to recent NICE guidance on the management of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH), first-line treatment for FH should be statins.

Understanding cholesterol is more than figuring out what's good and bad. Although much is known about this waxy substance that's in all body cells and its relationship with heart disease, much is still uncertain. Doctors suspect that the relationship may be more complicated than previously believed. The September issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource provides an overview of cholesterol and recent news about cholesterol medications.

The link between cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe (marketed as Vytorin) and cancer is still not clear, wrote the editors of the leading medical journal New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). More time is needed to assess the drug, they said, and in the meantime patients and doctors will have to live with the uncertainty.

Cardiologists in Europe agree that reducing LDLcholesterol (LDL-C or "bad" cholesterol) is the most important consideration when treating dyslipidaemia (abnormal blood lipids). A majority of cardiologists also agree that in addition to lowering LDL-C, raising HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C or "good" cholesterol) and reducing triglycerides are important factors in choosing dyslipidaemia treatment.

The results of a new observational study presented recently at the showed that patients who stop taking their prescribed statins have a four-fold increased risk of death during the first year following an acute coronary syndrome. The study included 2,234 patients who were prescribed statin therapy after an acute coronary syndrome. Patients were followed for one year after discharge from the hospital.

Genetic lipoprotein disorders are frequently seen in patients with premature coronary artery disease (CAD). An example of strong genetic predisposition is the disorder: familial hypercholesterolemia, where a single gene defect (the low density lipoprotein receptor) contributes to most of the familial expression of CAD.

AstraZeneca welcomes the recommendations by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the treatment of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) 1, a genetic condition resulting in high cholesterol levels. As part of its comprehensive review on the identification and management of people with FH, NICE has recommended that adults with the condition be treated with high intensity statins in order to reduce LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels by 50%.

Just ahead of the expected release of clinical practice guidelines on Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) by the influential National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), Tepnel Life Sciences PLC (AIM: TED) today announced the launch of a DNA test for the early detection of FH, a genetic condition that predisposes individuals to high blood cholesterol levels and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care have today (27 August 2008) published a guideline on the care and treatment of adults and children/young people with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), a type of high cholesterol that is caused by an inherited genetic mutation.

Elevated cholesterol levels return to normal or near normal levels over time in four out of 10 children with uncontrollable epilepsy treated with the high-fat ketogenic diet, according to results of a Johns Hopkins Children's Center study reported in the Journal of Child Neurology. The study appears online ahead of print here.

Taking 1000mg of a specific olive leaf extract (EFLA®943) can lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure in patients with mild hypertension (high blood pressure). These findings came from a 'Twins' trial, in which different treatments were given to identical twins. By doing this, researchers could increase the power of their data by eliminating some of the uncertainties caused by genetic variations between individual people.

Low levels of LDL cholesterol as well as high levels are associated with cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes, found a prospective cohort study published in CMAJ.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced that new pre-clinical data from its hypercholesterolemia program was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Frank-Kamenetsky, M., et al (August 11, 2008) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0805434105).

A drug widely used to treat high cholesterol is helping beat cancer. Lovastatin is part of a new cancer treatment that has arrested or eradicated tumors in more than 80% of initial patients. The first person treated with the investigative protocol in 2000 had stage 4 melanoma; he remains disease-free today. Lovastatin, the first of the statin group of lipid fighters, was introduced in 1980.

Small, specially designed bits of ribonucleic acid (RNA) can interfere with cholesterol metabolism, reducing harmful cholesterol by two-thirds in pre-clinical tests, according to a new study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in collaboration with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Topline results from the SEAS trial, which were first disclosed publicly at a press conference in London on 21st July, have since then caused heated reaction. The results showed that reducing levels of LDL-cholesterol with a proprietary combination of simvastatin and ezetimibe in patients with aortic stenosis had no more effect on major cardiovascular events (the study's primary endpoint) than with placebo.

With the revolutionary Randox HDL and LDL clearance method, part of the lipid profile, specificity of testing and accuracy of diagnosis is vastly improved. This has replaced traditional assessment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk which frequently provided inaccurate and insufficient information for the clinician, possibly leading to misdiagnosis of the patient.

Genzyme Corp. (Nasdaq: GENZ) and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) announced that they have begun a phase 3 study of mipomersen in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (heFH), a genetic disorder that causes exceptionally high levels of LDL cholesterol. It is the first of four new trials the companies plan to initiate by the end of this year, and the second late-stage study of mipomersen, a novel lipid-lowering drug that utilizes antisense technology.

With heart disease maintaining top billing as the leading cause of death in the United States, a team of University of California, San Diego School of Medicine physician-researchers is proposing that aggressive intervention to lower cholesterol levels as early as childhood is the best approach available today to reducing the incidence of coronary heart disease.

Karo Bio has successfully completed a 12 week phase IIb study of eprotirome (KB2115) given to patients with dyslipidemia (elevated blood lipids). These patients were already on statin treatment. Data show that eprotirome induced a statistically significant and clinically relevant lowering of serum LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and lipoprotein (a) and was safe and well tolerated.

New research from over 223,000 patients published in the Primary Care Cardiovascular Journal (PCCJ)1, suggests that total cholesterol (TC) levels in statin-treated UK patients are higher than that of the general population. The recent Health Survey for England (HSE 2006) 2 found that the mean TC was 5.3 mmol/L in men and 5.4 mmol/L in women. This is in contrast to the average TC of 6.

New research from over 223,000 patients published in the Primary Care Cardiovascular Journal (PCCJ)1, suggests that total cholesterol (TC) levels in statin-treated UK patients are higher than that of the general population. The recent Health Survey for England (HSE 2006) 2 found that the mean TC was 5.3 mmol/L in men and 5.4 mmol/L in women. This is in contrast to the average TC of 6.

Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited (MSD) announced recently that 'Tredaptive' (nicotinic acid/laropiprant) 1000 mg/20 mg modified-release tablets, a new lipid-modifying therapy for patients with dyslipidaemia and primary hypercholesterolaemia, has been authorised for marketing in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and Iceland and Norway.1 'Tredaptive' combines nicotinic acid (niacin) and laropiprant, a novel flushing pathway inhibitor.