Drug maker AstraZeneca has secured approval to market its cholesterol-lowering drug to adults without cholesterol problems, despite some questions over the drug’s safety.
From The New York Times:
Among the risks raising new concerns, recently published evidence indicates that statins could raise a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 9 percent.
“It’s a good thing to be skeptical about whether there may be long-term harm from healthy people taking a drug like this,” said Dr. Mark A. Hlatky, a professor of health research and cardiovascular medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The drug, Crestor, is second only to Pfizer’s Lipitor in sales of statin drugs. Using results from the study submitted as evidence of the drug’s potential to cut heart attacks and strokes, TheTimes concluded that to prevent one heart attack, 500 people would have to be treated with Crestor for a year, at a total cost of $638,000.
