DNAprint Genomics (DNAG)

[stakddek]

Update at bottom to old news. Statins going over the counter. --Well the patent ran out, and they milked us.... well anyway read the story. There is a genetics angle re; high cholesterol individuals and a search for them.

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http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/pressoffice/pressrelease_00213

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Date: 12 May 2004
Should cholesterol-lowering drugs be sold over the counter?
Experts in treating patients with inherited high cholesterol have criticised plans to sell cholesterol lowering statin drugs over the counter. They point out that the over the counter drugs will be sold in too low a dose for these serious cases; that it could inhibit hunting down 100,000 patients who have inherited high cholesterol and who do not know it; and that a package of statins, and health advice on diet exercise and smoking tailored to individual needs, is more likely to save lives.

Background

It has recently been announced that a brand of statins, cholesterol lowering drugs, is to be sold over the counter. This statin, and some of the other older statins, has been taken by some patients for 10 years or more with very good effect on lowering cholesterol and reducing heart attacks. Some people do develop side effects, but this is rare and in general these drugs are seen as safe and very useful, although other more powerful types of statins have been introduced recently.

When a doctor prescribes a statin the patient is always monitored afterwards to make sure the drug is being effective in lowering cholesterol, and that there is no evidence of any damage to the liver. Patients being treated in this way are also given information about healthy eating, life style advice such as increasing exercise to help weight loss and also offered help to stop smoking. Since heart disease is not simply caused by one factor, this “whole-patient” approach is widely recognised as being the best way of reducing risk. This is endorsed by guidelines recently brought out by an umbrella group of European doctors including experts in managing cholesterol in the blood, high blood pressure, nutrition, and cardiology. Similar approaches are recommended by doctors in the USA.

So what do leading experts say about the idea of selling statins over the counter?

Professor Steve Humphries from London IDEAS Genetics Knowledge Park is a leading expert in the genetics of cardiovascular disease. One of his major projects is to track down 100,000 Britons who have undetected familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) – inherited high cholesterol. – which puts them, and roughly half or their relatives, at dramatically raised risk of heart attack. He is helping to organise a project, funded under the Government White Paper on Genetics released in June last year, to track down the relatives of people with FH who often don’t know they are at risk.

Professor Humphries says “The idea of selling statins over the counter raises a number of issues. People with FH will need a lot more than the low dose of statin that is being made available over the counter. Taking this pill, instead of being seen by an expert doctor, will leave them at high risk. Worse than that, the family may not come to the attention of the teams tracing the relatives and they will not be offered the tests to find those who need effective statin treatment.

Dr Ian Hopkinson, a GP based in London added “Statins, together with a healthy diet, regular exercise, not smoking, and blood pressure monitoring, are one part of an approach to reduce the risks of heart disease. The overall approach to reducing the risks of heart disease is likely to be most effective in general practice. Blood cholesterol and blood pressure monitoring are an opportunity for the GP to obtain a detailed family history of heart disease, allowing the detection of other family members who may be at increased risk of developing heart disease.

Professor Humphries is available for interview.

Contact information:
London IDEAS Press Office
020 7829 8671


Notes to editors:
The statin concerned has come off patent, and therefore is being developed as an over the counter drug. What's New
04 January 2005

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Stakddek