FDA says it finds no Vytorin-cancer link, but unsure
December 23rd, 2009 by Kurt Niland
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it found no clear link between Merck’s blockbuster cholesterol drug Vytorin and increased risk of cancer, but it could not rule out the possibility that such a link exists. The agency reviewed data from three Vytorin trials, including the controversial SEAS trial results, which Merck had withheld from the public for 18 months as it aggressively marketed the drug.
The SEAS study sought to test Vytorin’s effectiveness as an alternative to surgery in reducing arterial clogging caused by high cholesterol. The results, which were announced in a July 2008 press conference, did not favor the drug. Not only did researchers find that Vytorin worked no better than cheaper, generic statins, they also discovered that patients taking Vytorin experienced 50 percent more new cancer cases and cancer deaths than the subjects who took placebos.
Merck and some of the researchers connected to the SEAS study dismissed the results as a “fluke,” while many physicians and medical researchers not connected to the drug company remained skeptical and cautioned consumers to stick with traditional statins to control cholesterol levels. For instance, Merck’s Zocor, taken alone, was shown to be more effective than Vytorin and cost about one-third as much because it had become available as a generic drug.
That research promoted many municipalities that had included Vytorin in their health plans to file lawsuits against Merck, essentially asking for their money back. Vytorin and its sister drug Zetia, made by Schering-Plough, brought in sales of more than $5 billion at their peak. The sales have fallen but continue to earn $4 billion annually.
Vytorin is a hybrid drug which combines Merck’s Zocor with Schering-Plough’s Zetia to combat both dietary and hereditary cholesterol. The FDA said that ample evidence exists showing Zocor to be safe, but insufficient evidence exists on Zetia to “rule out a cancer risk at this time.”
Two additional Vytorin studies known by the acronyms SHARP and IMPROVE-IT are ongoing and scheduled to end in 2010 and 2012.