Group urges review of new U.S. statin drug advice

Consumer advocates backed by some prominent doctors and researchers on Thursday questioned a new U.S. policy recommending wider use of statin drugs to lower cholesterol.

The new guidelines, published in July, suggest that people without high cholesterol levels should take statin drugs to get their levels even lower.

The National Institutes of Health and the National Cholesterol Education Program panel that issued the guidelines cited several studies showing that people who used statins greatly lowered their risk of heart disease.

But the Center for Science in the Public Interest disputed the interpretation of the studies and accused the panel members of having been influenced by their connections to drug companies.

"There is strong evidence to suggest that an objective, independent reevaluation of the scientific evidence from the five new studies of statin therapy would lead to different conclusions than those presented by the current NCEP," reads the CSPI letter, signed by 35 cardiologists, nutritionists and other health professionals.

"The studies cited do not demonstrate that statins benefit women of any age or men over 70 who do not already have heart disease," said John Abramson, a clinical instructor in primary care at Harvard Medical School, who signed the letter.

"Furthermore, we are concerned about the findings from one of the five cited studies showing that statin therapy significantly increases the risk of cancer in the elderly."

The new guidelines say that high-risk people - who have had a heart attack, diabetes, chest pain, or surgery to clear blocked blood vessels - should aim for a low-density lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol level of 70 instead of the usual 100.

Those considered at moderate risk are now told to take drugs if their LDL is 130 or higher.

The guidelines do mention that lifestyle changes can lower cholesterol too, and say that drugs should not be prescribed without advice to exercise and eat more fruits, vegetables and fiber and less fat.

But the CSPI letter says the guidelines give this advice only a cursory mention.

"Eight of the nine authors of the July recommendations have financial ties to statin manufacturers, including Pfizer (Inc.), Merck (and Co. Inc.), Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca - a fact that was not disclosed when the recommendations were first published in the journal Circulation," the letter reads.

Many researchers have financial ties to drug companies but the issue has received more prominence in recent years as groups such as the CSPI question whether such relationships may influence medical research.

"We have abundant, strong evidence to support the...guidelines and we are in the process of formulating a response to the CSPI," said Susan Sagusti, a spokeswoman for the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.