INSTANT VIEW: Reaction to Vytorin study results
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The cholesterol fighter Vytorin sold by Merck & Co and Schering-Plough failed to meet the main goal of improving cardiovascular outcomes for patients with irregular thickening of the main valve to the aorta, according to results of a new study.
The following are comments from market and industry sources on the study's results.
COMMENTS:
LINDA BANNISTER, ANALYST, EDWARD JONES
"I think that's what people were expecting. If the primary point was positive that would have been a positive surprise.
"The concern is that how this is going to be portrayed and perceived and is it just going to be another issue where there is a lot of negative publicity surrounding the drug."
JON LECROY, ANALYST, NATIXIS BLEICHROEDER
"Overall, it looks positive. They did decrease atherosclerotic events, which is sort of what everyone expected. The only downside is there were more cases of cancer in the treatment group.
"They haven't seen that same risk in the other studies, which are actually bigger than this one, so I would say that allays the fears slightly about the cancer. But we've seen with drugs in the past anytime cancer gets tagged on them sometimes the prescriptions can come off a little bit.
"It did affect what it was supposed to which were really your atherosclerotic events.
"I think it was really a long-shot that it would have done anything for aortic stenosis."
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Deepa Seetharaman)
