Merck Cholesterol Pill Woes May Intensify on Loss to Niaspan 
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A finding that Merck & Co.’scholesterol pills Vytorin and Zetia didn’t reopen cloggedarteries as well as Abbott Laboratories’ Niaspan has set off amedical debate on heart treatment strategies.
In the trial, researchers reported finding a reduction inthe thickness of artery walls in patients given Niaspan, whilethose on Zetia had no change. Artery thickness is believed to bea predictor of risk in heart attack and stroke because itrestricts blood flow, the researchers said.
The results reported yesterday at the American HeartAssociation meeting in Orlando, Florida, may raise doctorawareness of the role of good cholesterol, or HDL, in hearthealth. It could also pump up sales for Abbott’s drug, a form ofniacin, or Vitamin B, that increases HDL, and mean less revenuefor Merck’s Zetia and Vytorin, which combines Zetia with thestatin simvastatin to lower bad cholesterol, or LDL.
Study Raises Questions About Cholesterol Drug's Benefit
ORLANDO, Fla. — For patients taking a statin to control high cholesterol, adding an old standby drug, niacin, was superior in reducing buildup in the carotid artery to adding Zetia, a newer drug that reduces bad cholesterol, according to a new study.
The results of the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, were presented here Sunday night at an annual meeting of the American Heart Association.
The study has been a polarizing topic here and has also attracted the attention of a powerful senator who has been investigating the conduct of two drug makers, Merck and Schering-Plough, in relation to their sales and marketing of Zetia and a combination cholesterol drug, Vytorin, which includes Zetia. The drug makers merged this month.
New study questions effectiveness of popular cholesterol drugs
A widely prescribed and expensive cholesterol drug does not unclog arteries as effectively as a modified version of Vitamin B3, a cheap alternative used to treat heart disease for decades, according to a new study.
The research, which appears Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine, is sending rumbles through the medical community because it is the third recent study to raise questions about the effectiveness of Zetia and its sister drug, Vytorin, highly profitable pharmaceuticals made by Merck & Co.
"This is the third strike," said Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. "The studies are telling us that it doesn't appear to produce benefits. This is a drug used by millions of Americans, a very big seller, in a health-care system where costs are a major issue. And the question has to be, is this the right approach?"
UPDATE 3-Niaspan tops Zetia in new setback for Merck drug
* Niaspan leads to reduction in artery wall thickness
* No meaningful change seen with Zetia
* 5 times as many serious adverse events seen with Zetia
Niaspan tops Zetia in new setback for Merck drug
* Niaspan leads to reduction in artery wall thickness
* No meaningful change seen with Zetia
* 5 times as many serious adverse events seen with Zetia
UPDATE 1-AstraZeneca drug tops Plavix in sickest patients
* Astra's Brilinta tops Plavix in heart attack patients
* No increased major bleeding risk seen with Brilinta
* 18 pct reduction in all cause death seen with Brilinta
dc area congressional votes
For the Record
Here's how some major bills fared recently in Congress and how local congressional members voted, as provided by Thomas Voting Reports. The District's congressional delegate is not permitted to vote on final passage of legislation. "NV" means "not voting."
House votes
Report: Bill would reduce senior care
A plan to slash more than $500 billion from future Medicare spending -- one of the biggest sources of funding for President Obama's proposed overhaul of the nation's health-care system -- would sharply reduce benefits for some senior citizens and could jeopardize access to care for millions of others, according to a government evaluation released Saturday.
The report, requested by House Republicans, found that Medicare cuts contained in the health package approved by the House on Nov. 7 are likely to prove so costly to hospitals and nursing homes that they could stop taking Medicare altogether.
Congress could intervene to avoid such an outcome, but "so doing would likely result in significantly smaller actual savings" than is currently projected, according to the analysis by the chief actuary for the agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid. That would wipe out a big chunk of the financing for the health-care reform package, which is projected to cost $1.05 trillion over the next decade.
New CDC estimates show what toll swine flu is taking in us
About 22 million Americans have become ill with pandemic H1N1 influenza in the past six months and 3,900 have died, according to new estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of pediatric deaths -- about 540 -- is four times as high as the number that physicians, hospitals and health departments had reported to the public health agency in Atlanta.
The new estimates, drawn from detailed surveillance and record-checking in 10 states, sketch the most detailed picture by far of the national toll from the new flu strain that emerged in California and Mexico in April.
Canada shrugs off cost of flu vaccination campaign
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's top medical official defended the national H1N1 vaccination campaign on Thursday, and said the costs of doing nothing would be far higher than the money spent immunizing millions of people.
The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing medical data from various levels of government, said Canada has so far spent C$1.5 billion ($1.4 billion) on the campaign -- more than twice as much as officials initially estimated.
But Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said millions of people could become sick and thousands die if there was no vaccination program.
