27th October 2004
"What did PROVE IT prove?"
[quote]The study, called PROVE IT, for Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy, was based at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard affiliate in Boston. And for several reasons the results involved major surprises.
The sponsor of the research, Bristol-Myers Squibb, maker of Pravachol, expected to prove that this drug is just as good as its more potent rival Lipitor, made by Pfizer. "We were as surprised by the findings as the sponsor," Braunwald notes. "To their great credit, the company was totally supportive in our making the results public soon after they were available."
The surprises extend to the roots of basic research and to the practices of doctors worldwide. "There was a common belief that once you lower harmful low-density cholesterol to 100 milligrams per deciliter, you achieve little further gain by going any lower," Braunwald points out. "Certainly, that's what I believed. But those who took the high-dose statin reached a level of about 62, and over two and a half years these people enjoyed a 16 percent lower risk of heart attacks, stroke, bypass surgery, rehospitalization for cardiac events, and death from all causes."
[quote]The study, called PROVE IT, for Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy, was based at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard affiliate in Boston. And for several reasons the results involved major surprises.
The sponsor of the research, Bristol-Myers Squibb, maker of Pravachol, expected to prove that this drug is just as good as its more potent rival Lipitor, made by Pfizer. "We were as surprised by the findings as the sponsor," Braunwald notes. "To their great credit, the company was totally supportive in our making the results public soon after they were available."
The surprises extend to the roots of basic research and to the practices of doctors worldwide. "There was a common belief that once you lower harmful low-density cholesterol to 100 milligrams per deciliter, you achieve little further gain by going any lower," Braunwald points out. "Certainly, that's what I believed. But those who took the high-dose statin reached a level of about 62, and over two and a half years these people enjoyed a 16 percent lower risk of heart attacks, stroke, bypass surgery, rehospitalization for cardiac events, and death from all causes."