Study finds Zetia, Vytorin lower risks of heart attack

CHICAGO – A major study lifts a cloud around Zetia and Vytorin, blockbuster drugs for lowering cholesterol. The study found that these pills modestly lower the risk of heart attacks and other problems in people at high risk for them – evidence that’s been missing for more than a decade as the drugs racked up billions in sales.

Doctors have long focused on lowering LDL, or bad cholesterol, to prevent heart disease. Statins like Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor are the main medicines for this, and a lot of research shows they work.

Merck & Co.’s ezetimibe, which went on sale in 2002, lowers cholesterol in a different way. It’s sold as Zetia and, as a combo pill with Zocor, as Vytorin. The drug won Food and Drug Administration approval for lowering LDL, but some studies suggested that might not translate to fewer heart attacks and strokes. One study even questioned whether it raised the chance of cancer.

The new study found that people at high risk of heart problems who took Vytorin for seven years cut their risk of suffering one by 6 percent – by 8 percent if they took the drug most faithfully – compared to others taking just Zocor. Vytorin also proved safe.

“We’ve answered all the questions. Now we know that with this different way of lowering cholesterol, you can in fact prevent heart attacks and strokes,” said one study leader, Dr. Christopher Cannon of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“This is the first time that something added to statins has been shown to be beneficial,” he added.

Results were revealed Monday at an American Heart Association conference in Chicago.

“I’m impressed” that a non-statin can help, said Dr. Sidney C. Smith Jr., a former Heart Association president from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“It expands the options,” especially for the many people who can’t tolerate a statin or get their cholesterol low enough on one, said Dr. Neil Stone, a Northwestern University cardiologist.

Even a longtime Vytorin critic, the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Steven Nissen, said the study gave “a solid result” and evidence that very low cholesterol cuts heart risks.

To be clear: The study doesn’t mean that Zetia and Vytorin can help people who have not yet suffered a heart problem. The 18,000 study participants either had a recent heart attack or worsening chest pain from a severely clogged artery. About 1.1 million people face this situation in the United States alone each year.

The study was sponsored by Merck and many doctors involved in it consult for the company or other heart drug makers.