The latest so-called ‘wonder’ pill from the drugs giants

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I had to forward this with cholesterol being a major problem when undiagnosed with hypot. Luv nne

Health e-TipsPlease feel free to forward this email on to anyone who might benefit from thisinformation.31 January 2008Dear Reader,Now that Big Pharma has cornered its own statin drug market, it decidedit needed a new way to profit from cholesterol. Lowering it is oldnews, so they've moved on to the opposite end of the spectrum: Merck & Co. has spent the past year developing a drug that will raise levels ofHDL cholesterol.HDL is considered the "good" form of cholesterol: Researchers believeit carries cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liverwhere it can be processed and excreted from the body. Low levels of HDLcholesterol have been linked to increased risk of cardiovasculardisease. So, obviously, raising them is a good thing. But the way Merckis going about it is a bit underhanded if you ask me.The primary active ingredient in its new drug, called Cordaptive, isnothing more than an extended-release form of the nutrient niacin. Sohow are they going to patent - and profit from - an all-naturalvitamin, you might wonder? Well, they've combined the niacin with adrug called laropiprant.No, it doesn't have HDL-boosting abilities of its own. And no, itdoesn't increase the effectiveness of the niacin. Laropiprant has thesingular purpose of preventing the facial flushing that can occur when you take large quantities of niacin.While this side effect can be bothersome, it's certainly not life-threatening. But according to Merck's research, fewer patientsexperienced this flushing with the niacin/laropiprant combination thanwith niacin alone. That's fewer - not none. So apparently, adding thedrug isn't a fool-proof solution. The results were good enough forregulators to accept Merck's marketing application, though.But here's what they won't want you to know when the medicalauthorities approve Cordaptive and Merck launches their gazillion-dollar ad campaign for it: You can get extended-release, "flush-free"niacin formulations in just about any natural health food store orvitamin shop. In fact, Dr. has been recommending them for years!He typically advises his patients to use a form of niacin calledinositol hexaniacinate.I'm sure that these versions of niacin escaped the Merck R & D team'snotice during its research, though, and that they stuck with "regular"niacin, which is much more likely to cause flushing. In other words,they stacked the deck against the natural version so that their formula would come out victorious in this little contest of wills.Once again, the devil's in the details...No doubt Coraptive will hit the market with a bang next year. And Merckwill likely make a pretty penny from it. But those of us who knowbetter will get the same heart-healthy results without spending afortune, and without putting ourselves at risk for whatever sideeffects will undoubtedly emerge from their attempt to patent nature bycombining it with something thoroughly unnatural.