Niacin may be weapon in cholesterol fight

WASHINGTON, Jul 06, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The U.S. National Institutes of Health will fund a clinical trial to determine whether drugs including niacin improve cholesterol more than the drugs alone.

The NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute is expected to provide about $22 million in funding for the six-year study at 50 to 60 U.S. and Canadian sites that is to start in November, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Study participants will receive either simvastatin, the generic name of Merck & Co.'s Zocor cholesterol reducer or Kos Pharmaceuticals' simvastatin plus Niaspan, an extended release form of the vitamin niacin.

The study of about 3,300 people will attempt to determine if the drugs can reduce so-called "bad" cholesterol, or LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, while boosting production of "good," or HDL, cholesterol.

Separately, Pfizer Inc. is spending more than $600 million on clinical tests of its best-selling Lipitor combined with experimental drug torcetrapib to raise HDL cholesterol.