Experimental drug boosts good cholesterol levels by 106% after 8 weeks

Main Category: Cholesterol
Article Date: 08 Apr 2004 - 0:00 PST

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A Pfizer experimental drug, Torcetrapib, more than doubles a patient's level of good cholesterol after just eight weeks if he/she takes two tablets a day for eight weeks. This is according to a small study that has just been completed.

This treatment could become a new way of tackling heart disease.

This study, funded by Pfizer, consisted of six volunteers. They took two tablets a day for eight weeks. At the end of the eight weeks their average increase levels of good cholesterol - High density Lipoprotein (HDL) - went up by 106%.

Some scientists insist that you can fight heart disease by raising HDL levels, while others say that although HDLs are good, their benefits have been somewhat overstated.

This small study was part of a larger study which consisted of 19 volunteers. Those 19 were given either just Torcetrapib on its own or Torcetrapib and Lipitor (a drug that lowers bad cholesterol levels).

The patients who were on the two drugs at the same time got better results than the others who were just of Torcetrapib. The ones just on Torcetrapib experienced a 46% increase in their HDL levels while the patients on both drugs had a 61% increase. The patients on both drugs together also saw their 'bad cholesterol' levels drop by 60%. Patients just on Lipitor experienced a 17% drop in LDL (bad cholesterol) levels.

It seems that taking Torcetrapib with Lipitor has the best results in lowering bad cholesterols levels and boosting good cholesterol levels at the same time.

Lipitor is the world's best selling prescription drug. Pfizer hopes that Torcetrapib/Lipitor combined will be a big seller.

In this study, all the volunteers had low levels of HDL at the beginning of the study. They study was carried out at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA.

You can read about this study in The New England Journal of Medicine.

According to researchers, if your good cholesterol levels go up one point, your risk of heart disease goes down 2-4%. There may also be a reduced risk of strokes if you can up your good cholesterol levels.

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