News Story - Cholesterol Drugs May Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis

June 18, 2004

(marciastoyle@...) has sent you a news article. (Email address has not been verified.)

Personal message:

new drug for RA

Cholesterol Drugs May Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040617/hl_nm/health_arthritis_statins_dc

My Mail Sign InNew User? Sign Up

News Home - Help

Welcome, Guest

Personalize News Home Page

-

Sign In

News

Fri, Jun 18, 2004

Search

All News News Only News Photos Audio/Video for

Advanced

News Home

Most Popular

Weather

Audio/Video

Full Coverage

News Resources

Providers

·

Reuters

·

AP

·

HealthDay

·

ACS News Today

·

AFP

·

CP

News Alerts

·

Lipitor

·

Alzheimer's disease

·News Alerts

News via RSS

Health - Reuters

Cholesterol Drugs May Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis

Thu Jun 17, 7:36 PM ET

Add Health - Reuters to My

By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) -

Cholesterol-lowering drugs, already

widely used to cut the risk of heart attack and tipped as a

prevention for some cancers, may also help fight rheumatoid

arthritis, scientists said on Friday.

Health Have questions about your health? Find answers here.

Researchers from the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland

found a small but statistically significant improvement in

arthritis symptoms in patients given 40 mg of Pfizer's Lipitor (news - web sites)

daily in addition to standard arthritis medication.

The news underscores the reputation of cholesterol-lowering

statins -- the world's top-selling drug class with global sales

of $22 billion a year -- as potential wonder pills.

Already hailed for revolutionizing the management of heart

disease, statins are also being studied in the fight against

multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites), glaucoma and

osteoporosis, as well as in preventing various forms of cancer.

The new study reported in The Lancet, which involved 116

patients randomly allocated to receive Lipitor or a placebo for

six months, was the first controlled trial of a statin in

rheumatoid arthritis.

It adds to a growing body of evidence that statins could

have important anti-inflammatory properties, since rheumatoid

arthritis is a disease characterized by chronic inflammation of

the joints.

"The clinical benefit is modest ... but there is a hint

that something is happening," Professor Iain McInnes, one of

the researchers behind the study, told Reuters.

His team found patients on average reported a reduction of

swelling in three joints -- significantly less than the 6-8

joints relieved with modern rheumatoid arthritis drugs, known

as TNF blockers, which must be given by injection.

Most patients entering such trials have an average of 12-15

swollen joints at the start.

Although the symptomatic benefits may be limited statins

could still become an important future part of treatment since

rheumatoid arthritis sufferers have an inherently higher risk

of heart attack and stroke.

A drug that can relieve swelling while cutting cholesterol

could therefore prove a winner.

"Although of limited size and short term, their findings

support the use of atorvastatin (Lipitor), and presumably other

statins, to prevent cardiovascular disease in patients with

rheumatoid arthritis," Lars Klareskog and Anders Hamsten said

in an accompanying editorial.

McInnes and his colleagues now plan to conduct a

large-scale clinical trial, lasting three to five years, to see

whether adding statins to standard treatment improves the

survival of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

Story Tools

Email Story

Post/Read Msgs

(3)

Print Story

Ratings:

Would you recommend this story?

Not at all

1

- 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Highly

Tools Sponsored by: HP

Print better photos.

Sign In

News Story - Cholesterol Drugs May Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis

Recommended Posts

Guest guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation

Activity