Zocor heart drug from Merck shows no benefit in preventing cardiac problems

• Merck's anti-cholesterol drug Zocor suffered a setback after a major study found high doses of the drug showed no conclusive benefits in preventing fresh cardiac problems in heart attack patients.
• Results of the Merck-sponsored study were released at the European Society of Cardiology and published in the new issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
• "The early-launch statins like Zocor do look increasingly anaemic in comparison with later drugs like Lipitor, and it's easy to see how Pfizer has mopped up market share," said Paul Diggle, an industry analyst with Code Securities in London.
• AstraZeneca Plc has also recently entered the market with another potent new statin called Crestor.
• But it may not be all bad news for Merck (MRK: Research, Estimates), since the disappointing Zocor results could reinforce the case for using Vytorin, a new cholesterol-lowering pill that combines Zocor with a different type of cholesterol reducer, which has been developed by Merck and Schering-Plough.
• Normally, patients at risk of another heart attack are first stabilized and put on low-cholesterol diets before introducing cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins.
• But in the Zocor study, half the patients were given a daily dose of 40 milligrams for 30 days and then raised to 80 milligrams daily.
• While cholesterol levels dropped more sharply in the first group, the risks of suffering another heart attack, stroke, readmission to the hospital or heart-related death were comparable in the two groups.
• An editorial accompanying the study, in the online version of the Journal of the American Medical Association, commended the researchers for publishing the study findings even though they "did not meet its original objectives" -- in light of recent criticisms that bad news in some company-funded studies have been swept under the rug.