more on the recent change in cholesterol guidelines

It happens like clockwork.  Every few years, the powers-that-be in the world of Cardiovascular Health get together to determine how much to lower what is considered the “safe and healthy” level of BLOOD CHOLESTEROL.  Of course, the lower these standards are, the more people will be diagnosed with “high” cholesterol, and the more doctors will prescribe medication to them.  And that much more money will be made by the big Pharmaceutical Companies. 

A few months ago, I shared a post on this subject  (HERE), and revealed to you the phenomenal numbers of Financial Conflicts of Interest (COA’s) among those creating these guidelines.  In fact, it was so bad that after the guideline authors revealed their financial conflicts, they simply wrote, “The other members of the writing groups reported numerous relationships with industry,” and left it at that.  And although we knew that these new “EVIDENCE-BASED” guidelines would increase the number of Americans taking statins, we did not know how dramatic this increase would be until earlier this week.   A study by Dr. Michael Pencina of the Duke Clinical Research Institute and published in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (Application of New Cholesterol Guidelines to a Population-Based Sample) revealed the answer.  And while shocking, the results were not surprising in the least.  The study’s conclusions are as follows.

Wow!  When doctors started suggesting putting STATIN DRUGS in the drinking water several years back, they were not far off the mark of the goals that are currently being attained by organized medicine and big pharma.  Stop and look at these numbers for a moment.  This is an incredible financial windfall for big pharma. Thirteen million new Statin users, with increases in usage so massive in the “without cardiovascular disease” category, it almost defies the imagination (and certainly defies common sense).  The goal of 100% Statin usage is within striking distance.  And under the new guidelines, simply having HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE in the right age group can be enough to get you put on a Statin drug.   Unfortunately (and unbeknownst to the average person), the government’s dietary recommendations are a significant part of the problem (HERE).

The American people need to be aware that the day is coming —- probably well within my lifetime —- that because we’ve turned over healthcare costs to the government, the government will be completely control every facet of your healthcare.  This means that they will determine what drugs you are prescribed.  How will this happen?  Many countries with government-controlled medical care mandate a certain number of doctor visits per person, per year.  If your cholesterol levels are above what government physicians determine is healthy; since tax dollars are paying for your healthcare, you will follow governmental recommendations or you will be booted completely out of the system (unless, of course, you are here illegally). 

For the record, the COA’s revealed by Dr. Pencina and his chief co-author included

• McGill University Health Center:     McGill does a lot of research in the area of heart disease, cholesterol, and drugs to lower cholesterol (both statins and non-statins).

• AbbVie:  AbbVie, a division of Abbott Laboratories, manufactures the non-statin cholesterol drug “Niaspan”, which is commonly prescribed along with statins.  Clinical trials have shown it provides no benefit in lowering cholesterol.  They are also heavily involved with stents, vessel closure devices, endovascular and coronary technologies.

• Janssen:   Janssen is the collective name of the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. They recently came up with a new class of Type II Diabetes drug, and are involved with several dyslipidemia drugs.

• Eli Lilly:   Eli Lilly makes the stain drug Livalo.  They have also been working on a class of drug to increase HDL — something which has proved elusive to the pharmaceutical industry.  They have also been involved with the non-statin drug PCSK9 as well.  As a side note, Eli Lilly has claimed that their drug Livalo has fewer side effects than other statins.  Listen to what Dr. John Briffa has to say about the way that Eli Lilly is exploiting this fact on the July 13, 2012 issue of his blog.  “It’s well known that about 75 per cent of people who start statins stop again within a year.  Recently, the drug company Eli Lilly issued a press release regarding a survey called ‘Understanding Statin use in America and Gaps in Education’ (‘USAGE’). The USAGE survey was an attempt, on the face of it, to better understand the reasons for why so many individuals stop taking their statins. More than 10,000 people were polled, and the results are in.  It turns out that off all of the reasons individuals might stop their statin medication, ‘side effects’ was the most commonly cited reason. According to the survey, a full 62 per cent of respondents cited side effects as the reason for stopping their medication.”  According to Eli Lilly, Livalo is the perfect solution for these folks.

• Boehringer Ingelheim:    Boehringer Ingleheim makes about 30 different drugs, including many for the cardiovascular system.

To read more about the COA’s in this area of industry guidelines within the field of cholesterol, you can go to the blog of Dr. Barbara Roberts — a professor at Brown University (HERE) and read a short article she wrote on the subject.  She says the conflicts in this area are over half a billion dollars.