Better? You're entitled to your opinion, of course.

I know you and Sharon justify your one-sided viewpoint by claiming that
people who post articles that are not critical of statins are employed by
or paid by pharma to do that. I ain't one of them. This is the
sci.MED.cardiology group, afterall, and statins are some of the most
widely used and researched cardiology-related meds.

Notice, too that I did not edit out parts of the article (i.e. "Previous
reports have linked "statin" drugs, like simvastatin, with muscle side
effects.."), like Sharon does in her posts.

L.

The studies referenced may not have allowed patients to go into
rhabdomyolysis, or they may not have selected patients who are subject to
rhabdomyolysis, or they may not have tested a large enough population, but
according to Merck, rhabdomyolysis has been reported for Ezetimibe (brand
name Zetia) even without statins.

The Prescribing Information states: "However, rhabdomyolysis has been
reported very rarely with
ZETIA monotherapy and very rarely with the addition of ZETIA to agents known
to be associated with

increased risk of rhabdomyolysis, such as fibrates."

Read the full 14 pages of the Prescribing Information from Merck's Zetia
page, 29480915T, REV 09, at:

http://www.zetia.com/zetia/shared/documents/zetia_pi.pdf
ZETIA® (EZETIMIBE) TABLETS

The context of the quote, from page 10 of 14:

"In clinical trials, there was no excess of myopathy or rhabdomyolysis
associated with ZETIA compared

with the relevant control arm (placebo or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor
alone). However, myopathy and

rhabdomyolysis are known adverse reactions to HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors
and other lipid-lowering

drugs. In clinical trials, the incidence of CPK >10 X ULN was 0.2% for ZETIA
vs 0.1% for placebo, and

0.1% for ZETIA co-administered with an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor vs 0.4%
for HMG-CoA reductase

inhibitors alone.

In post-marketing experience with ZETIA, cases of myopathy and
rhabdomyolysis have been reported

regardless of causality. Most patients who developed rhabdomyolysis were
taking an HMG-CoA

reductase inhibitor prior to initiating ZETIA. However, rhabdomyolysis has
been reported very rarely with

ZETIA monotherapy and very rarely with the addition of ZETIA to agents known
to be associated with

increased risk of rhabdomyolysis, such as fibrates. All patients starting
therapy with ezetimibe should be

advised of the risk of myopathy and told to report promptly any unexplained
muscle pain, tenderness or

weakness. ZETIA and any HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor or fibrate that the
patient is taking concomitantly

should be immediately discontinued if myopathy is diagnosed or suspected.
The presence of these

symptoms and a creatine phosphokinase (CPK) level >10 times the ULN
indicates myopathy."

Note Merck says patients should be advised to promptly report muscle
symptoms, which is not the overall message conveyed by the press release.