Diabetes link to Rosuvastatin
There is growing evidence that a popular
statin carries a particularly high risk of harmful side-effects, a doctor and
campaigner has warned. The cholesterol-lowering power of rosuvastatin (Crestor)
exceeds all other statins but is also associated with the highest increased
risk of diabetes, Dr Sidney Wolfe said.
http://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/national/11862320.Diabetes_link_to_popular_statin/
Writing in the BMJ, the founder and senior adviser to US civil
rights group Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said its approval to
prevent heart attacks in a very select group of people was based on the results
of a study which was stopped early, leading to concern that the treatment
effects may have been overestimated.
The drug, which was the most prescribed brand
name drug in the US last year, is also a commonly-used statin in the UK. Dr
Wolfe said other serious side effects include rhabdomyolysis - a rare condition
that causes muscle cells to break down - and renal problems.
Public Citizen asked the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to ban the drug in 2004 because of its concerns. "Worldwide
2013 sales were 8.2 billion US dollars (£5.5bn), the third highest for any
branded drug," Dr Wolfe writes.
"Given the longstanding, continuing
evidence of rosuvastatin's comparative lack of clinical benefits and increasing
evidence of risks, how did this happen? The
short answer is that of statins still on the market, the milligram for
milligram cholesterol lowering potency of rosuvastatin exceeds all others, a
fact exploited in advertising campaigns."
Statins are the most commonly prescribed
group of drugs in the NHS with up to 10 million people in England estimated to
be taking them.
They are currently offered to people in the
UK who have a 20% risk of developing cardiovascular disease within 10 years. But
updated guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
(Nice) last year called for the NHS to widen this to cover people with just a
10% risk.
A spokesman for the Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said: "Statins are safe and effective
medicines and play an important role in reducing the risk of heart attack and
stroke. Information on possible risks with statins are already contained in the
information to prescribers and patients and people should continue to take
their medicines as prescribed. If anybody has any questions they should speak
to their GP or pharmacist. The MHRA continually reviews the information on the
safety of statins and updates the prescribing advice and information for
patients where necessary."
http://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/national/11862320.Diabetes_link_to_popular_statin/
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