Cholesterol drug fails in heart research

Vytorin also linked to cancer in study

NEW YORK - Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. fell in New York trading after their cholesterol drug Vytorin failed in a study to prevent complications from heart-valve disease and was linked to a higher rate of cancer.

Patients getting Vytorin were less likely to have artery-clogging plaque buildup than those on a placebo, a known benefit from Merck's Zocor, one ingredient in the drug, the study known as Seas found. The elevated number of cancer cases in Vytorin users may have been a fluke, additional researchers said yesterday.

Vytorin prescriptions have fallen about a third since January when a study, called Enhance, found it worked no better than Zocor alone in reducing buildup in the brain's main artery. The new study, originally slated for presentation in November, looked at narrowing of the heart's aortic valve, known as aortic stenosis, in patients on Vytorin.

The research shows Vytorin "does appear to reduce the risk of coronary artery disease events (as has been shown for many other types of patient in previous trials) but not the rate of progression of aortic valve disease," said Terje Pedersen of Ulleval University Hospital in Oslo, the study's chief investigator, in the statement.

Vytorin slashed cholesterol levels by 61 percent compared with a placebo. Still, 333 patients getting the drug suffered a complication, compared with 355 on placebo, almost identical rates, the study found. It compared a single daily Vytorin pill with a placebo in 1,873 patients.

The study found that 158 patients developed cancer. Of those getting Vytorin, 9.9 percent had the disease versus 7 percent given a placebo. Deaths from cancer were also slightly higher in those given Vytorin, the study found.