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Statins are drugs used to lower cholesterol. Your body needs some cholesterol to work properly. But if you have too much in your blood, it can stick to the walls of your arteries, narrowing or even blocking them.

ABC TV's science program impacts use of statins among Australians

More than 60,000 Australians are estimated to have reduced or discontinued their use of prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin medications following the airing of a two-part series critical of statins by ABC TV's science program, Catalyst, a University of Sydney study reveals in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

15 Jun 2015

Only one in five patients qualified for free 'midlife MOT' takes NHS heart health check-ups

Only one in five patients eligible for a free "midlife MOT" on the NHS took up the offer in the first four years of the programme.

11 Jun 2015

Amgen to discuss data supporting Repatha BLA for high cholesterol treatment with FDA EMDAC

Amgen today announced that the Company will discuss the data supporting the Repatha (evolocumab) Biologics License Application (BLA) for the treatment of high cholesterol with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDAC).

10 Jun 2015

Keeping blood sugar levels under control can help protect hearts from diabetes-related damage

Day in and day out, for years on end, millions of people with diabetes prick their fingers to test their blood sugar level. And many may wonder if all the careful eating, exercise and medication it takes to keep those levels under control is really worth it.

4 Jun 2015

Statins reduce risk of death by 67% in CABG surgery

Research presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia exploring the protective effect of various heart medications that patients are taking before undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery concludes that statins reduce the risk of death by two thirds, or 67 percent, while no consistent effects were seen for other medications.

1 Jun 2015

UC Davis researchers show feasibility of using statins to treat asthma

Statins continue to show that their benefits extend beyond their original focus of lowering high cholesterol. With the increasing prevalence of asthma, scientists are studying the effects of statins in the lungs.

26 May 2015

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs could delay prostate cancer growth in patients receiving ADT

Men who went on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs when they began androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer had a longer time in which their disease was under control than did men who didn't take statins, a clinical trial led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators shows.

8 May 2015

Study confirms link between statin drugs and diabetes risk

In a database study of nearly 26,000 beneficiaries of Tricare, the military health system, those taking statin drugs to control their cholesterol were 87 percent more likely to develop diabetes.

8 May 2015

Preclinical data from Synthetic Biologics' SYN-005 for Pertussis treatment presented at ECCMID 2015

Synthetic Biologics, Inc., a developer of pathogen-specific therapies for serious infections and diseases, with a focus on protecting the microbiome, announced that preclinical data from its novel SYN-005 program for the treatment of Pertussis were presented in two posters at ECCMID 2015 (European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases), on April 25, 2015, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

27 Apr 2015

Enrollment begins for first major cardiovascular prevention trial for people infected with HIV

The first clinical trial to investigate whether treatment with a statin drug can reduce the increased cardiovascular disease risk in people infected with HIV has begun enrolling patients. Based at Massachusetts General Hospital, the six-year, $40 million REPRIEVE (Randomized Study to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV) trial will be conducted at around 100 sites in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Thailand with funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in collaboration with the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and support from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

24 Apr 2015

Chemists working to develop 'greener' processes for discovering, developing medicines

Chemists funded by NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences are working to develop "greener" processes for discovering, developing and manufacturing medicines and other molecules with therapeutic potential, as well as compounds used in biomedical research.

22 Apr 2015

NIH-supported clinical trial to test statin use in patients with HIV-related cardiovascular disease

Researchers have begun enrolling participants in a multicenter international clinical trial to test whether statin administration can reduce the risk for major adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, strokes, and heart disease, in people with HIV infection. The trial is supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

16 Apr 2015

Nanomedicine strategy can help reduce heart attacks, strokes

A research team showed that a nanotherapeutic medicine can halt the growth of artery plaque cells resulting in the fast reduction of the inflammation that may cause a heart attack, according to a study led by researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published April 3 in Science Advances.

6 Apr 2015

Useful tips for physicians to help patients make the right choice on statin drugs

Cholesterol-lowering statins have transformed the treatment of heart disease. But while the decision to use the drugs in patients with a history of heart attacks and strokes is mostly clear-cut, that choice can be a far trickier proposition for the tens of millions of Americans with high cholesterol but no overt disease.

31 Mar 2015

Synthetic Biologics begins SYN-004 Phase 2a clinical trial to prevent C. difficile infection

Synthetic Biologics, Inc., a developer of pathogen-specific therapies for serious infections and diseases, with a focus on protecting the microbiome, today announced the initiation of a Phase 2a clinical trial to evaluate the gastrointestinal (GI) antibiotic-degrading effects and the safety of SYN-004, the Company's investigational oral beta-lactamase enzyme designed to protect the microbiome and prevent C. difficile infection (CDI).

30 Mar 2015

Limited anticancer role for preoperative statins in localised RCC setting

Statin use prior to undergoing nephrectomy is not associated with survival outcomes in patients with localised renal cell carcinoma, research suggests.

25 Mar 2015

Discontinuation of statin therapy may benefit patients with terminal illness

Discontinuing statin use in patients with late-stage cancer and other terminal illnesses may help improve patients' quality of life without causing other adverse health effects, according to a new study by led by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Duke University and funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).

24 Mar 2015

Simultaneous use of hormones and statins can protect women from heart disease after menopause

Hormones may not protect women from heart disease or stroke after menopause, but when combined with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, they may help protect women from these killers, shows a population study from Sweden to be published in the April issue of Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society.

18 Mar 2015

Majority of doctors welcome additional training in diet, nutrition to prevent CVD

Most physicians are aware of the importance of lifestyle factors in preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD) -- and believe diet is as important as statin therapy and exercise, according to a new survey from NYU Langone Medical Center.

17 Mar 2015

New statin guidelines may be too generic, shows study

The newest guidelines for the use of cholesterol-lowering statins in people at risk of heart disease may be too generic, excluding middle-aged adults who could benefit from the drugs, and over-prescribing in older adults, according to a new study from the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

13 Mar 2015