•
It’s typically thought that if you have good cholesterol levels you are safe from a heart attack. Yet, almost half of all cardiac events happen in people with normal cholesterol levels, indicating that something else is at play. Inflammation may be the cause, which is showing to play a significant role in atherosclerosis, the process where fat deposits build up along the inner lining of the artery.
Inflammation, caused by an increase in white blood cells, is the body’s natural immune response to infection, injury, or other harmful stimuli. When there are higher levels of LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream, your body reacts against it with this immune response. As blood flow increases, more LDL cholesterol can be absorbed in the artery walls causing even more inflammation. Thus, inflammation has a snowball effect, compounding the amount of LDL cholesterol absorbed into your cells. The more absorbed cholesterol, the more plaque you have. Eventually the plaque breaks apart and can cause a heart attack or stroke by clotting and blocking blood flow.
Determining your level of inflammation may help to predict your risk of a heart attack or stroke beyond just looking at your cholesterol levels. Inflammation levels can be found by measuring your blood for C-reactive protein (CRP), which is released by your body when inflammation occurs. Research shows that the higher your CRP levels, the higher your chance of experiencing a cardiac event. One study showed that people with higher CRP levels were twice as likely to have a heart attack as those who had lower levels.
Treatment for inflammation turns out to be similar to the treatment of high cholesterol. In addition to lowering cholesterol levels, statins have been shown to reduce CRP levels and inflammation. Still, lifestyle changes are typically recommended as the first line of defense, as statins have potential adverse effects. A healthy diet low in saturated fat, exercise, and quitting smoking and drinking are all things you can do to lower both CRP levels and LDL cholesterol.
Please share your thoughts and experiences! Have you or someone you know experienced side effects from taking Lipitor?
•
Leave a comment
•
Pfizer is moving research dollars away from Lipitor and heart disease research so that it can go after potential profits in cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease drugs. Lipitor has been Pfizer’s blockbuster drug as well as the highest selling pill on record. Last year, Lipitor made almost $13 billion in revenue, accounting for 25% of Pfizer’s sales.
A major reason for Pfizer’s shift in direction is its soon-to-expire patent protection on Lipitor in 2011. Furthermore, Lipitor has been losing part of its market in the last couple years to the generic form of its rival, Zocor, produced by Merck. This started when Merck’s patent ran out and health insurance companies began initiatives to support the generic form of Zocor called Simvastatin. Since then, patients have been switching over to this cheaper cholesterol lowering drug.
In addition to stopping research, Pfizer will sell several of its current early stage heart disease medicines because they don’t believe they will be profitable enough.
As Pfizer restructures, they will also be starting three new business branches in 2009. The branches will include primary care, specialty care, and emerging markets. The primary care branch will continue to work with doctors to increase and promote the use of Lipitor like drugs.
What do you think of Pfizer’s choice to stop research in heart disease medicines? What effects do you think this will have on the current market? Please share your opinions!
•
Leave a comment
•
RateADrug.com is an interesting new site where users from the community rate their experience in using different prescription drugs. Currently there are over 3,000 medications to view and share experiences about. Detailed surveys include things such as drug effectiveness, how much and how long you have been taking the drug, changes in well being, side effects, and user comments about the drug.
This is a good way for patients to stay updated with the most current side effects as well as learn about new alternative treatments. Additionally, after you fill in your experiences with your drug, you will receive your personal risk/benefit analysis based from your question responses. This gives you a score from 1 to 10 for both your side effects and positive effects so that you can see how this drug is working for you and how that compares to other users. It’s also great because you can forward all of your surveys along with comments to your doctor, family member or caregiver to keep them informed about any changes in your health caused from existing or new medications.
Go to RateADrug.com to take the Lipitor drug survey and see what people are saying about it.
•
Leave a comment
