January 12, 2009 7:31 a.m. EST
Miami, FL (AHN) – Federal regulators approved the use of a controversial drug to treat high cholesterol last week.
The Food and Drug Administration gave Vytorin the OK a year after a study came out suggesting it wasn’t any more effective than Zocor in lowering bad cholesterol.
Vytorin is a combination of simvastatin, the generic name for Zocor, and ezetimibe.
But now the FDA said a recent trial found a 56-percent Read the rest of this entry »

The US FDA has declared that Vytorin manufactured by Merck & Co Inc. and Schering-Plough should be used as combination drug. The FDA had conducted a study on the controversial drug before coming to the conclusion.
Vytorin, is a costly drug which is administered as a combination drug. The drug helps in reducing the harmful cholesterol. However, the previous drugs that were used for the same purpose costed about one third of Vytorin.
However, the Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – A U.S. Food and Drug
Administration review of Merck & Co Inc (
MRK.N
SGP.N
) controversial cholesterol drug
Vytorin found the drug works and supports its continued use,
the agency said on Thursday.
Vytorin, which combines two cholesterol drugs Zetia and
Zocor, aims to lower so-called bad cholesterol and raise levels
of good cholesterol. The FDA said its review of a company study
found “bad” cholesterol fell significantly Read the rest of this entry »

THURSDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) — After nearly a year of
review, U.S. health officials said Thursday that they supported the
continued use of the controversial cholesterol-lowering drug
Vytorin.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there was no
significant difference in carotid artery thickness between patients
taking Vytorin and patients taking the drug Zocor.
But, the agency reported, the levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol
decreased by Read the rest of this entry »

over cheaper, generic alternatives, the FDA indicated last week that their review of available data does not suggest that patients should stop taking the cholesterol lowering drug.
, which is marketed jointly by Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Corp, is a combination therapy that contains Zetia (ezetimibe) and Zocor (simvastatin). The drug is used to treat high levels of cholesterol in the blood by reducing low density lipoprotein (LDL or ‘bad’) Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there was no significant difference in carotid artery thickness between patients taking Vytorin and patients taking the drug Zocor.
But, the agency reported, the levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol decreased by 56 percent in the Vytorin group compared to 39 percent for the Zocor group.
The debate over Vytorin began early last year when preliminary results of the so-called Enhance trial showed that the drug Read the rest of this entry »