New drug shown to boost ‘good’ cholesterol while reducing the ‘bad’

It’s always been easier to reduce “bad” cholesterol than raise “good” cholesterol.

Heart patients can choose among medications to bring down levels of LDL, the low-density lipoprotein (“bad” cholesterol) that clogs arteries. But until now, there haven’t been highly effective therapies to increase low HDL, or high-density lipoprotein (“good” cholesterol).

Taking the vitamin niacin raises HDL somewhat, but many patients can’t tolerate side effects, including skin flushing and headache. Cholesterol-lowering statins and exercise have only modest effects.

In a small study published in the April 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Tufts University in Boston reported that taking 120 milligrams daily of a new drug called torcetrapib doubled levels of HDL while reducing LDL.

The study, funded by the universities and drug maker Pfizer, holds out the promise of a new avenue of heart disease treatment. Although doctors have long believed that high levels of HDL are protective, they don’t know whether raising low HDL can measurably reduce heart disease risk.

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Jane E. Allen