Am on atorvastatin (and lisinopril for bp) and it has reduced my cholesterol level from 8.1 to 4.7 at last check. I don’t think I have any side effects. Family has history of high BP and heart disease.

My LDL:HDL levels were wonky too but can’t remember the ratio.

I would talk to my doctor if I were you.

Sorry wrong link in the post above will get the correct one later

This is a good listen as well as the stuff by professor Tim Noakes which is also available on the BJSM pod cast and youtube which talks about the poor quality of research on cholesterol and statins use.

These two podcasts are worth a listen.

I’m 52 haven’t a clue what my cholesterol is, just seems the worried well are trying to sink the NHS.

There’s precious little profit in statins now that most are out of patent, they cost pennies to manufacture and cost a few pounds per month at most. So don’t blame big pharma.

Statins except Rosuvaststin are so cheap now that pharma has little to gain by promoting them.

Not if everyone over 50 was told to take them, as some people want.

Were all the large trials that Kendricks has access to flawed then, how come they showed virtually no benefit to mortality rates from statins ?

Were all the large trials that Kendricks has access to flawed then, how come they showed virtually no benefit to mortality rates from statins ?

Just as flawed as the large trials that did show a benefit….

Less that a quid a month for generic statins….

Less that a quid a month for generic statins….

Give it a few years, the latest wonder drug for lowering cholesterol will be touted instead. In fact, it’s already begun in some instances – look up PCSK9 inhibitors.

Mulv, NICE will decide whether they are beneficial enough to be prescribed on the NHS and under what circumstances. And if the decision is in the “give it a few years” timescale, they’ll be off patent too, so relatively cheap. (Although because PCSK9 inhibitors are biologicals, bioequivalence will be harder to prove)

Drugs do come off-patent fairly quickly. Viagra, for instance, has much cheaper competitors with the same active ingredient now that Pfizer’s patent has expired.