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Friday, 12 February, 2010

The future of statin therapy

Use in normal-cholesterol patients is on the horizon — will over-the-counter be next?

The most frequently prescribed drug class in Canada may soon become much, much more popular.

AstraZeneca has filed an application with Health Canada to add a new indication for its drug rosuvastatin (Crestor). The application, filed late last year and still under review, asks that rosuvastatin be licensed for use in older patients with normal cholesterol levels but elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP). If approved, the new indication could potentially result in millions of Canadian patients being put on preventive statin therapy.

Whether or not AstraZeneca’s new application is approved, however, recent research makes it all but certain that statins are well on their way to far wider use in the years to come.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the Parkhurst Exchange website.

Photo: Shutterstock

Posted by David Elkins and others at 12:00 AM

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4 comments:

  1. Another win for Big Pharma. We'll see what the side-effects to real human-beings are a few years down the road.
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  2. RE: Accessibility:

    An interesting difference in the " prescription or non-prescription" response for the two physicians......

    I would think the non-prescription route would be the cheapest and most accessible for the enduser.

    RE: Oxy....moron comment

    [This is the broadest ,most complex and contradictory one I've ever seen ]

    quote of the good doctor.......

    'Quite frankly, I’d prefer not to be the smartest guy in the cemetery.'
    ReplyDelete
  3. RE: the broader issues in' self-care scenarios' related to the decline of " subjective" interest in patient outcomes.

    It may be wrong to assume the patient-physician relationship is bonded by the " power of prescription" or the use of " mastery" ( we have the internet and telehealth now).

    I believe it's strongest historical link is " subjective" interest in following the (also historical) meaning of the word "care".

    Whether it is at the micro level of the physician-patient relationship where direct service and treatment management and oversight may not be considered because physician" subjective" interest in the outcomes...has now become obviously " objective"........

    OR

    Whether it is at the "macro" policy level or practice levels of epidemiology where devolution of services is being down-sized, deregulated, and divorced from ? professional intervention through the adoption of "guaranteed simplicity" to ensure direct cause-and-effect for policy makers........

    THERE IS AN UNEXAMINED THREAT WORTH DISCUSSING

    What is that threat?

    It is the same thing I observed in a bus trip from Venetico Marina into Messina, Sicily in 2006.
    The hills were no longer alive with terraced farms abandoned because the viability /attraction of doing this farming was gone.
    The once rooted slopes were scantily caped in wispy grass. The bowl-shaped embrace of the seaside population was no longer protected.

    I thought to myself " this is not good"... and the recent mudslide (2009)in the area..... is a witness to that

    In human services terms the exodus of youth in Italy ( who would normally root the foundations )is birthing a "slide" of it's own......

    How is that happening in the world of healthcare?

    I challenge the micro levels of health in the areas of service and treatment to look closely at how the policies of devolution, decentralization, deconcentration, etc. flowing downward into the world of "self-care" ......to do something to prevent this sllde into merely becoming the " hand extended" from the " arm of drug governance".

    I , secondarily, challenge the macro world of Public Health to see that the traditional role of monitoring health...... moving forward into the " planning" role of Global Health.......racing headlong into the "teams coordination role" of International Health........

    COULD RESULT

    in their own rooted, traditional role in monitoring, educating, overseeing, protecting " professionalism" itself...... sliding into oblivion.....

    [ in what McLuhan referred to in his question " what is the flip of innovation where you actually get the opposite of your desire?"]

    What to do?

    To gain the power of mastery and resulting patient interest a " subjective interest in the patient would have to return ( check out Hippocrates on this)

    To enjoy the ironclad stregth of policy, practice and procedure that comes from the " self-care" perspective...you and the patient must climb up the rungs of the " participation ladder" TOGETHER ( not with an " us and them" message... but with a " you and me" message )

    IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS

    .......the long arm of Pharma ( which are now tentacles) will reap the rewards that stem from " direct access to care" scenarios where their current prey ( the medico) can be totally bypassed and discarded.

    HOW WOULD YOU PREVENT THIS?

    NOTE:

    the $ now taken by Pharma in these instances could be channeled into FULLY supporting community services.... IF ...you keep coordination of HOW the money for these "care options" flows

    It's called a" paradigm" shift. Reverse what you have already done in attitude. Self-care is an outstanding move forward but can only have the best outcome if your interest in others is "subjective"!!!!!!!
    ReplyDelete
  4. Unsaid is that cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease! It is inflammation, and statins reduce inflammation they are finding out, but at much smaller doses. But why not just take an aspirin? Or stop eating inflammatory foods like the veg oils they've been saying are healthy? Can you believe decades of this nonsense they've been feeding us based on pseudo science? And now they want us to believe statins are needed for MORE people! Quite the opposite. And the side effects of the current large doses are scary. See spacedoc.net
    ReplyDelete

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