Anti-Cholesterol Drug Bombs In Tests

(CBS/AP) Shares of Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. fell Monday after study results showed their combination cholesterol drug Vytorin worked no better at reducing artery-clogging plaque in a group of high-risk patients than high doses of generic Zocor. -- Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, told CBS News anchor Katie Couric that he would advise doctors to quit prescribing Vytorin, since it was not shown to be more effective than Zocor. --- "My advice to physicians is not to use this drug Vytorin nor to use Zetia as first line agents any more. These should be really relegated to drugs of last resort until we have some evidence that they produce a health outcomes benefit," he said. "Right now, five years into this, with nearly 1 million prescriptions per week being written, there is no evidence that the drugs actually produce any benefit for patients."