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| |  Zocor Approved To Raise HDL In People With High LDL WEST POINT, Pa. -- Aug. 9, 1999 -- When it comes to controlling cholesterol, physicians and patients are rightly concerned about bringing their numbers down. But there’s actually one kind of cholesterol level that physicians often want to see elevated: the HDL, or “good” cholesterol. Today, Merck & Co., Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) has approved Zocor® (simvastatin) as the first cholesterol-modifying drug indicated to increase HDL (“good”) cholesterol, in addition to the medicine’s significant, long-recognized ability to lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides (TGs). “The broadened indication for Zocor means that physicians now have a medicine indicated along with diet and exercise to manage key lipid imbalances -- the same agent proven to help save lives and prevent heart attacks in patients with high cholesterol and heart disease,” said Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., M.D., D.Phil., The Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York. “Low HDL has been identified as a risk factor for heart disease. Patients should know both their good and bad cholesterol numbers, and discuss current treatment plans with their physicians to ensure they are appropriately managing key types of cholesterol.” Zocor should be used in addition to diet to modify cholesterol levels after diet and other non-drug measures have failed to achieve target levels. In patients with high cholesterol and coronary heart disease (CHD), Zocor is indicated to help save lives by reducing coronary mortality, and to help prevent heart attacks, strokes or mini-strokes, and coronary revascularization procedures such as bypass and angioplasty.
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