Research into raising HDL cholesterol presses on despite setbacks

Research into raising HDL cholesterol presses on despite setbacks
Many still view this strategy as offering the best chance for the next big breakthrough in cardiovascular health.
By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. April 16, 2007.
Filling in the blanks regarding the fall of torcetrapib, the once-promising cardiovascular drug for which Pfizer Inc. pulled the clinical trials plug in December 2006, has become a hot topic in the ongoing pursuit of a new and better way to address cholesterol problems.
For instance, new research indicates that the drug raised high-density lipoprotein cholesterol but did not impact coronary atherosclerosis. This finding is most likely because it did not create well-functioning cholesterol molecules, according to a pair of studies presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans and published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"Our findings demonstrate the great difficulty in developing therapies to interrupt the atherosclerosis process," said Steven Nissen, MD, one of the study's lead authors and ACC's immediate past president.
Pfizer ended research into this drug because of an increased rate of cardiovascular events and deaths among study participants who took it. But although this recent round of data confirms that the drug didn't work and also provides some insight into why, those involved say there are still many questions that need answering. Much work also is needed if a drug is to be developed that does safely raise HDL -- the strategy many view as most likely to produce the next big cardiovascular health breakthrough.
"It's been about 20 years since the statin drugs were introduced," said Dr. Nissen, who is also chair of Cleveland Clinic's Cardiovascular Medicine Dept. "Statins are great, but we need more. We have to figure out how to raise HDL."