U.S. panel doubts two drugs used to fight cholesterol
Two widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, Vytorin and Zetia, may not work and should be used only as a last resort, a panel of four cardiologists has told an audience of more than 5,000 people at a major cardiology conference. Instead, doctors and patients should rely more heavily on older cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, which have proven benefits and can be cheaper, the panel said Sunday. "The strongest recommendation we can make on this panel is to go back to statins," said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale. "They work."