Lancet Slams UK Approval of OTC Statins

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Lancet Slams UK Approval of OTC Cholesterol Drug

LONDON (Reuters) May 21 - The British government is using the public as

human guinea pigs by allowing the sale of cholesterol-lowering medicines

without a prescription, a top medical journal said on Friday.

The Lancet said in an editorial there was insufficient clinical data to

justify self-medication with the drugs, which are widely used to reduce

the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Last week's move makes Britain the first country in the world to allow

over-the-counter sales of so-called statin drugs.

Merck & Co Inc's Zocor, or simvastatin, will be the first statin to go

over-the-counter this summer. It will be sold in a low dose of 10

milligrams and cost between 10 and 15 pounds per 28-day pack.

In the absence of evidence that the change will actually save lives The

Lancet said it appears the real reason is to save money.

Currently 1.8 million Britons receive statin therapy on prescription and

the National Health Service spends more than 700 million pounds on the

drugs each year.

A spokesman for & , which will market Zocor over the

counter in Britain and pay royalties to Merck, said it had developed a

protocol to enable the safe and effective dispensing of the product by

pharmacists.

Pharmacists will only sell the drug to customers after asking about

their situation and offering various health tests.

Zocor, which was once Merck's top-selling product, lost patent

protection in Britain last year, and the company is keen to make up for

lost sales by switching into the non-prescription market.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/478549

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Mayo Clinic in Rochester

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s Hopkins Medicine

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