http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm
Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?
Research suggests that, except among high-risk heart patients, the
benefits of statins such as Lipitor are overstated
By John Carey

Martin Winn's cholesterol level was inching up. Cycling up hills, he
felt chest pain that might have been angina. So he and his doctor
decided he should be on a cholesterol-lowering medication called a
statin. He was in good company. Such drugs are the best-selling
medicines in history, used by more than 13 million Americans and an
additional 12 million patients around the world, producing $27.8
billion in sales in 2006. Half of that went to Pfizer (PFE) for its
leading statin, Lipitor. Statins certainly performed as they should
for Winn, dropping his cholesterol level by 20%. "I assumed I'd get a
longer life," says the retired machinist in Vancouver, B.C., now 71.
But here the story takes a twist. Winn's doctor, James M. Wright, is
no ordinary family physician. A professor at the University of British
Columbia, he is also director of the government-funded Therapeutics
Initiative, whose purpose is to pore over the data on particular drugs
and figure out how well they work. Just as Winn started on his
treatment, Wright's team was analyzing evidence from years of trials
with statins and not liking what it found.

Yes, Wright saw, the drugs can be life-saving in patients who already
have suffered heart attacks, somewhat reducing the chances of a
recurrence that could lead to an early death. But Wright had a
surprise when he looked at the data for the majority of patients, like
Winn, who don't have heart disease. He found no benefit in people over
the age of 65, no matter how much their cholesterol declines, and no
benefit in women of any age. He did see a small reduction in the
number of heart attacks for middle-aged men taking statins in clinical
trials. But even for these men, there was no overall reduction in
total deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalization--despite big
reductions in "bad" cholesterol. "Most people are taking something
with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm," says Wright. Based on
the evidence, and the fact that Winn didn't actually have angina,
Wright changed his mind about treating him with statins--and Winn, too,
was persuaded. "Because there's no apparent benefit,"............

Thanks Vince