ENHANCE trial involved 720 familial hypercholesterolaemia patients, aged 30-75, randomly assigned to receive daily simvastatin (80mg) alone or with ezetimibe (10mg) for two years.Although ezetimibe lowered LDL cholesterol by 16 per cent, it failed to reduce carotid-artery intima-media thickness, a measure of atherosclerosis and the primary end point of the study.Concerns over the effectiveness of ezetimibe in familial hypercholesterolaemia were raised earlier this year, after a US Congressional Inquiry forced manufacturers Merck and Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals to reveal the results of ENHANCE.Dr Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale University Medical School, told conference delegates that the results of the ENHANCE study made it look less likely that ezetimibe could lower the risk of CVD.'Just because ezetimibe lowered LDL levels does not mean that it should be used to reduce CVD risk, he said.Know that HRT can also lower LDL levels.'It is now time to turn back to statins.Should be looking to optimise statin therapy and be increasing statin doses and trying out different statins, added Dr Krumholz.But Dr Terry McCormack, chairman of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society and a GP in Yorkshire, described the result of the ENHANCE trial as a 'no result.'This is a negative study that has not told us anything, he said.Continue to use ezetimibe for those patients who have failed to control their LDL cholesterol levels using statins.'I would definitely not take anyone who is already on ezetimibe off the drug.MENT BELOW AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK TOOLS HEALTHCARE REPUBLIC FORUMS HOTTEST TOPICS LATEST TOPICS RELATED ARTICLES JOBS Search Jobs Doctors Nurses Pharmacists Practice Staff PCO Staff JOB OF THE WEEK Berks Wiltshire Southampton Cumbria Cheshire LATEST CLINICAL ARTICLES Contributed by Dr Kate Scatchard, specialist registrar and Dr Stephen Falk, consultant clinical onco. Contributed by Mr Anthony Hirsh, consultant in andrology, Whipps Cross & Homerton University Hospita. Contributed by Dr Rod Hughes, consultant rheumatologist at St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey.MIMS PRODUCT NEWS The licence for Gaviscon Advance (sodium alginate, potassium bicarbonate) aniseed suspension has bee. Prescribing information for Provigil (modafinil) has been updated with information about the risk of.Read more Inpatient insulin therapy.
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