Thursday, May 26, 2011

Abbot's Niaspan/Statin Combo a Dud

Today’s news that an NIH-funded trial of cholesterol drugs ended 18 months early after it found no benefit from Abbott’s Niaspan. The trial, called AIM-HIGH, looked at whether adding Niaspan — a high-dose, extended-release form of niacin, or vitamin B3 — to certain heart-disease patients’ statin drug regimens would prevent more cardiac events than a statin alone. It did not. At this point, the FDA has recommended no change to how the drug is currently used.

Bonnie - because the individuals were also taking statins, this does not mean that Niaspan is ineffective. I would have pitted it against the subjects taking statins!

No comments: