Re: Crestor Cuts Heart Disease

On Nov 10, 8:36 pm, "Evelyn" <evelyn.r...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<Jim10...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

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On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:11:13 -0500, "Evelyn" <evelyn.r...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

"SordoT" <sor...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:03:49 -0500, "Evelyn" <evelyn.r...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

"St Louis Bob" <free.tun...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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On Nov 10, 11:40 am, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:24:49 -0800, SordoT<sor...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Crestor Cuts Heart Disease

Monday, November 10, 2008 9:27 AM

AstraZeneca's cholesterol fighter Crestor dramatically cut deaths,
heart
attacks and strokes in patients with healthy cholesterol levels but
who
had high levels of a protein associated with heart disease,
researchers
said on Sunday.

Crestor, known chemically as rosuvastatin, reduced heart attack,
stroke,
need for bypass or angioplasty procedures and cardiovascular death by
a
surprising 45 percent over less than two years.

Results of the study, funded by AstraZeneca and called Jupiter, could
help open a vast new market for statins as it shines a bright light
on
C-reactive protein -- an indicator of arterial inflammation -- and
its
connection to serious heart risks.

"Jupiter should dramatically change prevention guidelines," Dr. James
Willerson, director of the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, said in
a
statement.

"If your high sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) is high, you should be on
statin
therapy regardless of your cholesterol level. This is an approach we
can
start using tomorrow," Willerson said.

Data from the study, presented at an American Heart Association
meeting,
should also help differentiate AstraZeneca's powerful drug from
rivals,
such as Pfizer Inc's Lipitor, in a crowded cholesterol market that
includes generic options.

The 17,802-patient study was stopped more than two years early by
independent safety monitors because the benefit from 20 milligrams of
Crestor daily was so pronounced -- 142 heart events with Crestor
versus
251 on placebo. For every 25 patients treated, one serious heart
event
was avoided.

Heart attacks were cut by 54 percent, strokes by 48 percent and the
need
for angioplasty or bypass was cut by 46 percent compared with a
placebo.
Study subjects taking Crestor were also 20 percent less likely to die
from any cause, a secondary goal of the trial.

The benefits to men, women and minorities alike with healthy
cholesterol
levels were nearly twice what doctors expect from statins among even
patients with high cholesterol.

But these were patients who under current guidelines would never be
prescribed a statin -- already the world's most widely used
prescription
drugs -- because they had excellent cholesterol levels.

"Half of all heart attacks and strokes occur in men and women with
normal cholesterol," said Dr. Paul Ridker, director of the Center for
Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham & Women's Hospital in
Boston, who led the study.

"We've been searching for ways to improve detection of risk in those
patients," Ridker said.

"We can no longer assume that a patient with low cholesterol is a
safe
patient," he said in an interview.

Dr. Robert Glynn, the study's statistician, estimated that about
250,000
heart attacks, strokes, angioplasty and bypass procedures or deaths
could be avoided in the United States alone if the Jupiter strategy
was
applied for five years.

Incidence of physician-reported diabetes was higher in the Crestor
group
-- 245 versus 196 -- a finding researchers said was consistent with
other statin studies.

But incidence of cancer and cancer deaths were lower in the Crestor
group -- 298 and 35 for Crestor, compared with 314 and 58 on placebo.

The Jupiter data should provide a stark contrast between Crestor and
rival combination cholesterol medicine Vytorin sold by Merck & Co and
Schering-Plow Corp, which has been under assault from critics who say
it
has not proved that it cuts heart attack or death and may raise
cancer
risks.

Researcher have said that the cancer data from Jupiter and a
controversial Vytorin study could both be a chance finding.

Volunteers in the Jupiter trial were middle-aged men and women with
elevated hsCRP of greater than 2 milligrams/liter. The average was
about
4 mg/liter, while the preferred level is less than 1 mg, Ridker said.

Patients on Crestor saw CRP levels drop by an average of 37 percent
and
LDL came down by 50 percent, researchers said.

It was not immediately clear whether the dramatic benefits were more
the
result of intensive LDL lowering or the impact on CRP levels.

"Getting CRP down on top of LDL lowering appears to have added
incremental benefit," Ridker said,

© 2008 Reuters

Rita should be along shortly to explain that this study is merely a
scheme of the drug companies to squeeze more money out of us.

To hell with Rite, well not really, but as soon as I heard that so
called earth-shaking 'medical' report...'TAKE THIS DRUG EVEN IF YOU
DON'T NEED IT." What the hell is with that? And that is exactly what
they are saying. STATINS ARE BEING REFUSED BY PATIENTS LEFT and
right, because of their side effects. There are some folks who are
reporting 'permanent' damage to their leg muscles. Sometimes being
sent to the hospital to diagnosis them as having M.S. and finding out
it was the side effects of a statin. I will say before Rita has a
chance to...that it is Crestor trying to say their silly ass statin is
unique. Go to Walgreen and ask a pharmacist and he will tell you that
a "statin is a statin is a statin".
OK Rita you are off the hook on this one.

***************

Bob, I must tell you I have tried all the statins and the only one I can
take is Crestor. The others have nearly unbearable side effects for
me.
Leg pain and weakness, muscle spasms.... the whole bit.

Be careful, Evelyn, on agreement with anything I post as the Censorship
Committee Chairperson, the lovely vivacious Rita, will order you
PLONKED.

BTW: Over the years I've been on most all of the statins and Crestor
is the current one and also the best of the bunch.

I agree with you on that. I still can only take a small dose of it, as
the
higher dose brings on all the side effects again. When my doctor
insisted
I had to take Lipitor a few years ago, I spent an entire summer barely
able
to walk. I developed a brutally painful case of plantar fasciitis, which
is a spasm of the muscles in the arch of the foot. It was all from the
Lipitor, but I had undergone a series of painful shots in the foot before
I
figured that out. I really hope that some day they figure out how to
make
these drugs with no side effects.
--

Did your doc give you rundown on side effects and alternatives? I
don't need any drugs but this kind of experience scares me.

He was very insistent, even though my cholesterol was not THAT high. He
insisted because of other health conditions for which is is recommended that
statins be a part of the therapy. He pretty much told me I ought to just
take it and suck it up about the side effects. (I no longer go to that
doctor). As a matter of fact I went through at least 5 different trial
runs with statins of various kinds. I would take them till I couldn't
stand it anymore then I would give them up. I'd go see the doctor and he'd
hassle me again to take it. This was repeated over and over. Finally I
went on a half dose of Crestor, and I have been able to tolerate that, but
even still it bothers me, but NOTHING like Lipitor. That was a killer.
--
--
Best Regards,
Evelyn

(Our) enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship,
cupidity, hatred and discrimination, which lie within the heart of man." --
Thich Nhat Hanh

I agree , for whatever reason the doctors are denying they hear any
complaints about statins. That has to be a damned lie. My doctor
did the same thing "Oh you shouldn't have any problems" I am glad
to hear you guys report your leg damage. I still have weakness, not
as bad. I tolerated one leg having the side effects, until the
other was bad and then I had spasms going on , with each leg. I
swore I had some kind of chronic muscle disease and would slowly be
cripple.
I only repeat.....telling folks to "take it whether you need it or
not" is insane, ignorant, and seems to be running against all the
practices of how doctors work. Number one that shit is very very
EXPENSIVE. Which is another motive to push it. Nothing changes in
our sick health care system.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Crestor Cuts Heart Disease
    ... had high levels of a protein associated with heart disease, ... therapy regardless of your cholesterol level. ... For every 25 patients treated, ... other statin studies. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Crestor Cuts Heart Disease
    ... had high levels of a protein associated with heart disease, ... therapy regardless of your cholesterol level. ... For every 25 patients treated, ... other statin studies. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Crestor Cuts Heart Disease
    ... >Crestor Cuts Heart Disease ... >AstraZeneca's cholesterol fighter Crestor dramatically cut deaths, ... For every 25 patients treated, ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Crestor Cuts Heart Disease
    ... connection to serious heart risks. ... therapy regardless of your cholesterol level. ... For every 25 patients treated, ... other statin studies. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Crestor Cuts Heart Disease
    ... had high levels of a protein associated with heart disease, ... therapy regardless of your cholesterol level. ... For every 25 patients treated, ... other statin studies. ...
    (soc.retirement)