More Drugs to Boost ‘Good’ Cholesterol On the Way
April 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you remember in the not to distant past Stage III clinical trials for a drug called Torcetrapib were pulled because of increased deaths in subjects taking the drugs. Torcetrapib (made by Pfizer) inhibited the action of a protein called CETP. The inhibition of this protein resulted in very large HDL-cholesterol particles (HDL is the ‘good’ cholesterol). However, it didn’t seem to do the subjects any good.
What when wrong with Torcetrapib is still up for debate – perhaps complete inhibition of the protein wasn’t a good idea and just partial inhibition would be better. While some thought that CETP inhibitors such as Torcetrapib wouldn’t be used after the tradgeies from Pfizer trials…they were wrong.
Pharmaceutical company Roche presented data at the recent American College of Cardiology conference from a study they ran using a drug similar to Torcetrapib called R1658. The effects in this trial were positive and Roche is working on putting together larger trials.
I’m definately not sold on the necessity of CETP inhibitors. If you want to boost your good cholesterol you don’t need one of these drugs. Instead have a glass of wine with dinner, talk with your doctor about high dose niacin, make sure you get enough fat in your diet, and stop smoking. All of those will boost your good cholesterol naturally.
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