The
decision
last week by
the German
company
Bayer AG to
withdraw the
cholesterol-lowering
statin drug
Baycol from
the market
after it was
linked to 31
deaths left
700,000
Americans
scrambling
to find a
new drug. It
also left
the millions
who are
taking other
statins
wondering
whether the
entire class
of
medications
is safe.
Experts
expect most
Baycol users
to be put on
one of the
five statins
that remain
on the
market. But
like Baycol,
those drugs
are linked
to the same
rare muscle
weakness,
known as
myositis,
which occurs
in about 1
in 1,000
statin
users,
according to
James
Cleeman,
director of
the National
Cholesterol
Education
Program at
the National
Heart, Lung,
and Blood
Institute.
That
condition
occasionally
progresses
to
rhabdomyolysis
-- a
complete
breakdown of
muscle cells
that can
lead to
kidney
failure and
death. How
many cases
occur is not
known,
because of
limited
post-market
surveillance
by the Food
and Drug
Administration
(FDA).
Even so,
Cleeman says
the benefits
of statins
"far
outweigh the
risks.
People
taking
Baycol need
to talk to
their doctor
about what
drug they
should
switch to.
And people
taking other
statins
should
continue to
take them
because they
are many,
many times
more
beneficial"
than they
are risky.
For more
information
click here:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7002-2001Aug13.html
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