New Questions on Treating Cholesterol

For decades, the theory that lowering cholesterol is always beneficial has been a core principle of cardiology. It has been accepted by doctors and used by drug makers to win quick approval for new medicines to reduce cholesterol.

But now some prominent cardiologists say the results of two recent clinical trials have raised serious questions about that theory...

For patients and drug companies, the stakes are enormous. Led by best sellers like Lipitor from Pfizer, cholesterol-lowering medicines, taken by tens of millions of patients daily, are the largest drug category worldwide, with annual sales of $40 billion.

Despite widespread use of the drugs, though, heart disease remains the biggest killer in the United States and other industrialized nations, and many people still have cholesterol levels far higher than doctors recommend.

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Because the link between excessive LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease has been so widely accepted, the Food and Drug Administration generally has not required drug companies to prove that cholesterol medicines actually reduce heart attacks before approval.

Genentech - Lucentis: NIH to fund study vs Avastin

Genentech - Lucentis: NIH to fund study vs Avastin


The "blind greed" saga continues.
The US National Institutes of Health said Thursday that it will fund a study to compare two drugs by Genentech used to treat the leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

One of the drugs, Lucentis, was approved by the FDA this year to treat the disorder, called age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. The other drug, Avastin, which is much cheaper, has been approved to treat colorectal cancer, although it has been widely used off-label to treat the eye condition, according to the NIH's National Eye Institute.

Both drugs are derived from the same mouse antibody.

But....

Genentech are charging around 100 times the price of Avastin for Lucentis!

Insider's view: Way to go NIH!