Simvastatin and the study that allayed fears of cancer, suicide and murder

摘要

Nearly 20 years after its name first appeared on prescription pads, an estimated 2.5 million people in the UK are taking simvastatin to lower cholesterol. A further million or so take rival statins, and heart disease tsar Roger Boyle has predicted that the total could double when Government plans for wider heart disease checks are implemented. But, ironically for Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), the company that originally marketed simvastatin as Zocor, the drug only became the darling of prescribing advisers after it came off patent in 2003 and its price plummeted. Indeed, its early years were dogged by fears that, far from saving lives, lowering cholesterol could increase deaths from cancer, suicide and even murder.