Statins

Clinical Pharmacist’s top five research articles of 2016

Michael Dowdall breaks down the most popular research articles published in 2016.…

Fixed dose combination products have little impact on medicines adherence

While persistence rates favoured patients taking a fixed dose combination of a statin and ezetimibe, it made no difference to adherence, researchers found.…

High-intensity statin treatment increases chance of survival

Patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease receiving high-intensity statins — including those aged over 75 years — have a lower risk of death than those on a lower-intensity statin, according to new research.…

PCSK9 inhibitors help patients reach cholesterol targets, review finds

Systematic review of data from more than 10,000 patients shows how anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibodies can help patients achieve LDL-C targets as monotherapy or with statins.…

Article on statin safety makes unproven assertions

With publication of the review article in The Lancet on 8 September 2016 looking at the efficacy and safety of statin therapy, the pressure on GPs to prescribe high-intensity statins to low-risk people has become even greater. Under the heading ‘Proven beneficial effects of statin therapy…

Statin use affected by media stories, study finds

Widely covered health stories in the lay media about the risks and benefits of treatment can have an effect on patient behaviour, according to research published in The BMJ [1] on 28 June 2016.  Researchers found that there was an increase in the number of patients who stopp…

PCSK9 inhibiting cholesterol drugs among latest NICE approvals

Two new drugs used to treat patients with high cholesterol when other lipid lowering drugs are either ineffective or cannot be tolerated have been recommended for use on the NHS in England.…

Lowered lipid levels not always better in statin therapy

It may not always be beneficial to intensify statin treatment in patients with ischaemic heart disease, study suggests.…

Wales has highest number of prescriptions per head of population among UK countries

Wales dispensed the highest number of prescription items per head of population in 2015 compared with other countries in the UK, according to official statistics.…

Drug switching could save US health system billions

Drug classes with the highest excess expenditure in the United States are statins, atypical antipsychotics and proton pump inhibitors, study finds.…