NICE OK's Ezetrol for high cholesterol

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the UK advisory body which recommends drugs in England and Wales under the National Health Service, has published Guidance stating that adding US drug major Merck & Co's Ezetrol (ezetimibe) to initial statin therapy is a treatment option for patients whose cholesterol is not appropriately controlled on the initial statin, after appropriate dose titration, when consideration is being given to changing from initial statin therapy to an alternative within this drug class.

The NICE Guidance Committee considered clinical evidence which showed that adding ezetimibe to statin therapy reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol 23.2% more than statin therapy alone. Doubling the dose of statins or switching to an alternative product generally leads to a further reduction in baseline LDL-cholesterol concentrations of 6% and 8%, respectively.

L4.17 for a 28 40mg tablets