by David Gutierrez
May 1 2008
(NaturalNews) Patients who take the cholesterol drug torcetrapid, intended to
increase levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol and lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol
levels, have a 58 percent higher risk of death than similar patients who do not
take the drug, according to a study led by researchers at the Heart Research
Institute in Sydney and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers studied 15,067 participants, all considered to be at high risk of
cardiovascular disease. All the patients were treated with the
cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin, while half were also treated with
torcetrapid.
Torcetrapid is marketed by Pfizer, as is atorvastatin (under the brand name
Lipitor).
Patients receiving both drugs had a 58 percent higher chance of dying and a 25
percent higher chance of experiencing cardiovascular events such as heart
attacks than those who were treated only with atorvastatin.
Torcetrapid is one of a new class of drugs called cholesteryl ester transfer
protein (CETP) inhibitors. Unlike older cholesterol drugs, which only lower LDL
levels, CETP inhibitors are intended to raise HDL levels at the same time. The
drugs function by blocking the action of a protein that transfers cholesterol
from HDL to LDL, thus forcing the cholesterol to remain in HDL form.
In the recent study, torcetrapid was found to raise HDL levels by an average of
72.1 percent, and lower LDL levels by an average of 24.9 percent.
Scientists are still unclear why torcetrapid appears to increase patient death
rates and heart attack
risk. While the drug is known to raise
blood pressure,
many of the patients who died in the recent study actually had blood pressure
levels below normal.
Researchers have hypothesized that the drug may increase the levels of a hormone
involved in regulating blood pressure, and that this may lead to stress on the
cardiovascular system.
Merck and Roche Holding have placed the development of their own CETP inhibitors
on hold, pending the results of further trials on torcetrapid.