Use of statins plummets in Netherlands after TV programme

Published: 8-Oct-2007
Regulatory

The number of new users of statins in the Netherlands has fallen by 33%, following the broadcast of a TV programme early in March that questioned the protective role of lipid-lowering treatments.


The number of new users of statins in the Netherlands has fallen by 33%, following the broadcast of a TV programme early in March that questioned the protective role of lipid-lowering treatments.

In parallel, the number of treatment cessations has risen by 35%, according to the Dutch Foundation of pharmaceutical statistics (SFK).

In April, 27,000 people started a new lipid-lowering treatment compared with 41,000 in January; whereas 41,000 ceased treatment as opposed to 30,000 in January.

In July, the number of new users rose slightly with growth of 11% (32,000 people). The total number of users was around 1 million people. The total number of statin prescriptions fell by 2% to 1.46 million in the second quarter of 2007, in comparison with the first quarter, the statistics show.

In the Radar TV consumer affairs programme on 5 March, two doctors, both members of the International network of cholesterol sceptics (THINCS), claimed that health professionals and the public at large had been 'brainwashed' regarding cholesterol.

They suggested that classifying HDL as "good" cholesterol and LDL as "bad" cholesterol amounts to oversimplification. A high cholesterol level in men could be good and could have a stimulating effect on their immune system. The beneficial effect of a low cholesterol level has not been proven in women.

However, they stressed that people who might want to give up taking statins should not stop on their own initiative, but should consult their general practitioner first.

The drugs most affected are Merck & Co's Zocor (simvastatin) and generic versions. The most-prescribed statin in the Netherlands, the number of Zocor prescriptions have fallen by 5% to 630,000, while Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin) has fallen by 1.5% to 455,000 prescriptions.

Prescriptions of other statins such as AstraZeneca's Crestor (rosuvastatin), Merck & Co's Inegy (ezetimib and simvastatin), Novartis' Locol (fluvastatin) and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Selektine (pravastatin) and generic copies have remained more or less unchanged.

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