Solo drug as good as cholesterol combo

Oops.

"A controversial trial of the popular and costly cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin showed that it offered no benefit over an older drug available in generic form, Merck and Schering-Plough said Monday.

The results come from a study of 720 patients that pitted Vytorin, a drug duo made of Zetia and Zocor, against Zocor alone. Researchers found that although Vytorin lowered bad cholesterol by 58%, it failed to slow the growth of carotid-artery plaques any more than Zocor, a statin now available as a much cheaper generic."

The response of the sick care industry?

"What worries some doctors is that Zetia and Vytorin are so widely prescribed despite the lack of direct evidence of their effectiveness. Last year, doctors wrote 32 million prescriptions for the two drugs, according to IMS Health."

Now they are "worried."

Well, if you worry about your well-being, go here and not to these folk.