Statin News and Research

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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.

Studies evaluate traditional management of heart attack patients after discharge from hospital

Beta-blockers have been a cornerstone in the treatment of heart attack survivors for more than a quarter of a century. However, many of the data predate contemporary medical therapy such as reperfusion, statins, and antiplatelet agents, and recent data have called the role of beta-blockers into question.

12 Nov 2014

FDA accepts Amgen's evolocumab BLA for review

Amgen today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review Amgen's Biologics License Application (BLA) for evolocumab for the treatment of high cholesterol.

11 Nov 2014

Hospital bed positioning can affect outcomes of stroke patients

During the first 24 hours after a stroke, attention to detail --such as hospital bed positioning -- is critical to patient outcomes.

31 Oct 2014

Patient's gene profile influences effects of statins

The Montreal Heart Institute Research Centre is once again pushing the limits of knowledge in personalized medicine. A meta-analysis combining the results of several pharmacogenomic studies and involving over 40,000 research subjects now makes it possible to demonstrate a different response to statins according to the patient's gene profile.

29 Oct 2014

Research roundup: Home health nurses' workloads; readmissions at the VA; SHOP choices

In anticipation of next year's premium announcements and given some information already made public, concerns have surfaced about the potential for double-digit percent increases in nongroup and small-group health insurance premiums. This analysis shows that, although average annual increases in small-group premiums over the past 13 years averaged roughly 5.5 percent, double-digit average premium increases are common for states and large metropolitan areas.

22 Sep 2014

Rosuvastatin drug more effective among prediabetic patients, finds new study

Cardiovascular disease is the leading causes of death worldwide and high cholesterol plays a major role in accelerating its progression. Medical practitioners have turned to statins as a treatment to decrease cholesterol-carrying lipoproteins such as small dense lipoproteins (sdLDL), considered to be especially harmful.

19 Sep 2014

Rosuvastatin promotes bone growth in mice with achondroplasia symptoms

Skeletal dysplasia is a group of rare diseases that afflict skeletal growth through abnormalities in bone and cartilage. Its onset hits at the fetal stage and is caused by genetic mutations.

18 Sep 2014

‘Reassuring’ findings on microvascular risk in diabetic statin users

Statin treatment prior to diabetes onset does not appear to increase the risk of microvascular disease and may even be protective against some forms, findings from a registry study suggest.

17 Sep 2014

New report outlines cholesterol-targeted approach to treat people at risk for cardiovascular disease

A recent guideline for using statins to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease has wavered too far from the simple cholesterol goals that have saved thousands of lives in the past decade, and doesn't adequately treat patients as individuals, experts said today in a national report.

17 Sep 2014

New research shows statins could reduce common diabetes complications

The development of common diabetes complications that can lead to blindness and amputations could be reduced by taking statins, indicates new research published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

11 Sep 2014

People with diabetes may have six-fold higher risk of developing heart failure

People with diabetes who appear otherwise healthy may have a six-fold higher risk of developing heart failure regardless of their cholesterol levels, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

11 Sep 2014

Researchers to study effectiveness of atorvastatin in preventing heart problems in breast cancer patients

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has been awarded $4.4 million to conduct a multiple-site clinical trial testing the effectiveness of a statin drug in preventing cardiovascular events in women treated for breast cancer.

5 Sep 2014

Researchers uncover intriguing link between heart attacks and protein

A team of researchers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, led by Dr. Alexandre Stewart, have uncovered an intriguing link between heart attacks and a protein that is of great interest to drug companies for its impact on cholesterol.

4 Sep 2014

Alirocumab drug significantly improves cholesterol levels compared to ezetimibe

The investigational drug alirocumab significantly improved cholesterol levels compared to ezetimibe, when added to regular statin therapy in patients with high cholesterol and elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to the ODYSSEY COMBO II trial, presented as a Hot Line today at ESC Congress 2014.

1 Sep 2014

Amgen seeks FDA approval for evolocumab to treat patients with high cholesterol

Amgen today announced the submission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for evolocumab seeking approval for the treatment of high cholesterol.

28 Aug 2014

Risk-based treatment approach should be considered for patients with hypertension

Blood pressure-lowering treatment should target patients at greatest cardiovascular risk and not just those with the highest baseline levels, suggest findings of a meta-analysis.

28 Aug 2014

New guidelines can improve the way statin drugs prescribed to patients at cardiovascular risk

New national guidelines can improve the way statin drugs are prescribed to patients at risk for cardiovascular disease, a Yale University study has found.

27 Aug 2014

Sanofi, Regeneron present alirocumab Phase 3 trial results at ESC Congress 2014

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Sanofi today announced that details from four pivotal trials in the alirocumab ODYSSEY clinical program will be presented on Sunday, August 31, during a Hot Line session at ESC Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain, the world's largest cardiology meeting.

25 Aug 2014

New cholesterol guidelines can significantly help reduce cardiovascular events

A study from UT-Southwestern researchers found that recently introduced cholesterol guidelines would significantly reduce new cardiovascular events, when compared to treatment based on previous cholesterol guidelines.

19 Aug 2014

New joint ESC/ESA Guidelines on non-cardiac surgery

The publication of the new joint ESC/ESA Guidelines on non-cardiac surgery: cardiovascular assessment and management introduces a number of recommendations in the field. Among other topics, the Guidelines include updated information on the use of clinical indices and biomarkers in risk assessment, and the use of novel anticoagulants, statins, aspirin and beta-blockers in risk mitigation.

1 Aug 2014