The researchers have developed a cholesterol busting drug that slashes the risk of heart attack and strokes. The powerful new pill known as anacetrapib could save lives of thousands of heart patients each year. The daily pill halved the level of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the blood which is the main activator of heart attack.
The new pill could dropped the levels of cholesterol up to unprecedented lows, found a study from A Harvard University and study leader Christopher Cannon, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston explained that If this works out, it may turn back the clock on heart disease and shove it off the top of the list as the leading killer.
It was found by researchers that in addition to being able to cut the level of bad cholesterol or LDL in the blood, the pill raised levels of good cholesterol, which helps protect against heart disease. The good cholesterol called HDL, cleans the blood vessels of fats and transfers them to liver where they are broken down.
In a study trail researchers gave the pill to eight hundred people with heart disease and were already taking statins. It was found that after six months the levels of bad cholesterol or LDL had halved whereas the levels of good cholesterol had more than doubled. Such huge changes have never seen before and these improvements continued for no less than another year.
Heart disease is caused due to build-up of fat in the walls in the coronary arteries, which bring blood to the heart. Due to which the arteries become narrower, restricting the flow of blood to the heart. It can cause angina pains and when the artery becomes blocked, the patient suffered a heart attack.
Anacetrapib, which is being manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Merck, works by helping to keep fat attached to the good cholesterol as it is carried in the blood to the liver. If proven effective, this will really transform practice in the same manner aspirin and statins have, explained Dr Douglas Weaver, a cardiologist at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.