Life Extension Magazine  LE Magazine November 2004 Cholesterol &
Statin Drugs Separating Hype from Reality By William Davis, MD,
FACC  You have seen the glitzy ads for cholesterol-lowering
drugs. Advocates call the statin drugs the “new aspirin,” to be
taken by everyone, every day. Here is the real story.  The
pharmaceutical companies are waging a war.  The battleground:
treating your cholesterol. This single sector of the health care
market is reaping tens of billions of dollars in revenues for
these multinational companies. They must be manufacturing great
drugs. Or are they?  Supporters are so enamored of statin drugs
that some have even proposed putting them in the water supply.
Critics object that the statins are another thalidomide story
for the drug industry, with ill effects not yet fully
understood.  No matter what you believe, the statins—or more
properly, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors—are a huge success story.
As one investment reporter put it, statin drugs “turn
cholesterol into money.” Lipitor® al