Lipitor vs Pravachol...One Bad Drug Versus The Other

Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor, provided sponsorship for a research study by the Cleveland Clinic according to the New York Times.

The research study consisted of over 500 coronary heart disease patients over an 18 month period. The results of the study were reported at an American Heart Association meeting and a full report was released for publication.

In the report, which made headlines and was featured on recent national television news broadcasts, heart disease patients with high LDL levels stopped the progression of coronary plaque buildup by using the cholesterol lowering statin drug Lipitor.

This didn't happen with a different group that were using Pravacol. As a matter of fact, their plaque continued to build-up.

This information was trumpeted by the Associated Press and other major news organizations as the first time two different statin drugs were tested against each other head-to-head.

Sounds like a big win for Pfizer. The Lipitor group outperformed the Pravacol group.

However, what they didn't tell you in this so called head-to-head test was that the Lipitor group was on 80mg of the drug and the Pravacol group was on only 40mg of their drug.

Lipitor group was given twice as much drug as the Pravacol group! I don't know about you, but 80 vs 40 doesn't sound so head-to-head to me.

Was that lopsided test a pay back to Pfizer for providing the money for the research program?

I also wonder about the differences in side effects, such as liver and kidney dysfunction, between taking the high level of Lipitor vs the low level of Pravacol?

The press also views the study as great news because the Lipitor was able to stop the growth of arterial plaque in the test group and reduce plaque by 0.04% (a number that is meaningless in developing heart disease) in 18 months. What a triumph for medicine!

How sad...when we already know that you can stop the growth of arterial plaque nutritionally, and eliminate it from your arteries at the same time within a few short months, without the side effects found when taking Lipitor, Pravacol or Zocor for that mater.

In addition, this nutritional cure for heart disease cost you much less in money, time, and stress!

Even sadder was the statement from the lead author of the study, Dr. Steven Nissen (a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic) providing medical advice that could border on being downright dangerous.

Dr. Nissen told the Associated Press that the data seem to show that "There is no such thing as too low an LDL." MSNBC picked up on that comment and ran this sub-head on the MSNBC web site: "New research indicates the lower the level of LDL the better."

But prior research doesn't support that claim. And that's putting it mildly. Because when LDL is too low, the risk of death may actually increase.

The largest, longest and most prestigious heart disease study, the Framingham Heart Study, showed that total cholesterol levels that went below 160 caused heart disease problems to go back up!

It is not a straight line down. It's not the lower the cholesterol the better it gets. It's a curve that bottoms out at 160, below that you're heading for heart disease and possible death!

And from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Honolulu Heart Program (an ongoing study that began in 1965 with more than 8,000 men), Dr. Malcolm Kendrick presents this quote as it appeared in the Lancet medical journal: "Our data accord with previous findings of increased mortality in elderly people with low serum cholesterol, and show that long-term persistence of low cholesterol concentration actually increases the risk of death."

I think Dr. Steven Nissen needs to do a little homework and find out what almost 40 years of controlled research has discovered versus his paltry 18 months.

It's too bad that heart patients will read this study and take it as a confirmation that they are doing the right thing by loading up on statin drugs.

To your good health and longevity! Because you're worth it!

Ira Marxe
CEO, Good Health Supplement

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