Study Raises New Questions About Merck Pill Zetia

MARILYNN MARCHIONE

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A new study raises fresh concerns about Zetia and its cousin, Vytorin — drugs still taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol, despite questions raised last year about how well they work.

In the study, Zetia failed to shrink buildups in artery walls while a rival drug, Niaspan, did so significantly. Zetia users also suffered more heart attacks and other problems although the numbers of these events were too small to draw firm conclusions.

Zetia "has been on the market for about seven years and we still haven't proven that it improves clinical outcomes," said Dr. Roger Blumenthal, preventive cardiology chief at Johns Hopkins University. The new results will be "very influential" in getting more doctors to turn to Niaspan, he said.

He wrote an editorial accompanying the results, which were presented Sunday at an American Heart Association conference and published on the Internet by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study is too limited to warrant changing practice, heart experts said. Patients also should not stop taking any heart medicine without checking with their doctors, they warn.