There has been a new twist in the statin saga – the heated debate about whether these drugs are as safe and effective as the official view claims. Now it turns out that the senior academic who believes they have virtually no side effects has told a newspaper that he hasn’t actually done the analysis […]
The new son of statin drugs are more powerful. Are they better?
December 2, 2014 by 3 Comments
New and more powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs are on the way. But are they the life-saving breakthrough enthusiastic news stories have been suggesting? The latest post on HealthInsightUK.org tells how there is no evidence yet that they do anything other than lower cholesterol. But is that enough to keep you safe from heart disease? According to seasoned […]
Confessions of the great statinator: how Sir Rory Collins told all about his commercial funding
August 7, 2014 by 15 Comments
The post I put up last week – “Statin critics cleared: top statin advocate knuckles’ rapped” – got over 5000 views (huge for this site) which suggests there is considerable in interest in the backstage activity behind the remarkable drive to get the entire nation on statins. (If you are new to this site do […]
Statin critics cleared. Top statin advocate knuckles’ rapped
August 2, 2014 by 36 Comments
The long running spat between senior statin advocate Professor Sir Rory Collins and the British Medical Journal has come to a very satisfactory conclusion. His demand – that two papers challenging his claims about the safety and effectiveness of statins – be withdrawn, has been rejected by a committee specially set up to consider it. […]
Conflicts of interests swirling round statins
July 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Another five or six million people will be offered a prescription for statins after NICE confirmed its decision last week to halve the risk of heart disease that makes you eligible for these cholesterol lowering drugs. This is a bad decision if you think that the only consideration was the welfare of patients. If you […]
Statin wars: an outbreak of medical transparency
June 13, 2014 by 10 Comments
Something remarkable happened earlier this week. Open warfare broke out between senior doctors over the benefits of a major government health policy. To prescribe or not to prescribe yet more statins to healthy people? That was the question. Details of the open letter to the head of NICE (the health value-for-money body) challenging its proposal […]
Should I take statins? The wizard of Oz won’t help you decide
March 26, 2014 by 3 Comments
If you are not confused about statins you haven’t been paying attention. Are they life saving drugs that should be given to millions more or are they pills that are largely unnecessary, if you don’t actually have heart disease, that come with a nasty range of side effects? Recently experts who are highly critical of […]
Statins: the secret data that decides if you get treated
March 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
You’ve probably heard that there’s a proposal to make even more people eligible for the cholesterol lowering drugs statins. I’ve just published post on the website HealthInsightUK that puts a big question mark over the over the reliablility of the evidence that suggestion is based on. It comes from the highly respected but rather secretive […]
Statins: why saying no makes sense
February 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
If you are a 50-something or older, the next time you go to the doctor for a check up you could find yourself being told you should start taking cholesterol-lowering statins even if your weight is good, you don’t have raised blood pressure, you exercise and you have no history of heart disease. That’s because […]
Cut heart disease. Prescribe apples and exercise
December 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Eating an apple a day is as effective (almost) at fending off heart disease as taking a statin. That was the catchy claim of an article in the BMJ last week reported by most of the papers. On the surface it was a light, good news Christmassy tale but dig a little deeper and it looks […]
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