A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology shows no increased cancer risk with US drug majors Merck & Co and Schering-Plough's Zetia (ezetimibe) and Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin), compared to cancer rates for other powerful lipid-lowering statin therapies.
Researchers studied rates of reports of cancer as an adverse event filed with the US Food and Drug and Administration for patients taking Zetia or Vytorin compared to those on mono-therapy with Merck's Zocor (simvastatin), global drug giant Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin) or Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca's Crestor (rosuvastatin), during a four-year period.
The analysis found cancer reported in 2.9 per million prescriptions for Zetia, 1.3 per million prescriptions for Vytorin therapy and an average of 4.1 per million prescriptions for other lipid-lowering treatment. These rates demonstrate no increase in cancer for Zetia and Vytorin regimen versus the other treatments studied.
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