British Study fails to close divide on statins A major new British study in the Lancet journal claims finally to put to rest the rancorous debate worldwide over the risk-versus-benefit profile of statins. The authors say the evidence is "overwhelming" that statins are safe and effective for primary and secondary prevention — to prevent a first heart attack or stroke in otherwise healthy people, or to prevent a second attack or stroke. Statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs used to treat or prevent heart disease and stroke. They have become the world’s most prescribed drugs and generate billions in revenue for the drug companies that make them. Top experts worldwide say the new review is dangerous and misleading because it overplays the benefits of statins for primary prevention and downplays significant evidence of harm. Collins and his co-authors say doctors and patients have repeatedly underestimated its benefits and exaggerated the harm. They say there has been "misinterpretation of the evidence", in particular a failure to "acknowledge properly the wealth of evidence from randomised controlled trials [the so-called gold-standard of scientific trials], and the limitations of other types of observational studies". Sherif Sultan, president elect of the International Society for Vascular Surgery, is critical of the Lancet paper. "It does not encompass any substantial new information or data and it lacks independence," says Sultan, professor of vascular surgery at the University of Ireland. "It is a review by the triallists who published all these data before, with the long declaration of interests and whose research is paid generously by the drug industry." The Oxford clinical trials unit receives "hundreds of millions of pounds of support from the pharmaceutical industry", he says. Several independent researchers have documented that the number of side effects are much higher than the Lancet… http://bit.ly/2cApjGP
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