Commercials that advertise cholesterol lowering drugs

[geterdone]

Have you ever wondered while watching these commercials, at the end they always say check with your doctor and that a blood test may be needed to check for any Liver problems. Do you think that this may be an underlying message put out by the pharmaceutical companies as a marketing awareness, of not only to sell their cholesterol products but to also start bringing HCV to the forefront of the next treatable disease? My thought would hopefully be that yes and that it is a start in that direction but is the AMA getting the word out to physicians when doing this blood test for cholesterol also do a hepc panel as well. What do you all think, is this may be a pipe dream?

jasper

[susan400]

I, personally, will be avoiding statins.  My parents both have cholesterol problems and have to take cholesterol drugs.  My mom however, cannot take statins because it makes her normally healthy liver, spike high enzymes.  Knowing that this happens to her healthy liver and with my liver being an unhealthy liver - I won't take the statins.  If there was absolutely no other option, I might be convinced to give Zetia a try, but I would resist it initially.  I'm having a feeling that the cholesterol thing may end up being an issue for me down the road knowing that there's the familial tendency there.    Anyway, Merry Christmas.    Susan

[jmjm530]

If the enzymes were elevated before starting statins -- assuming a baseline test was given -- then, yes, that might raise a red flag if the doctor is on the ball. But if there was no baseline -- or a normal enzyme baseline -- I don't think most doctors would check for HCV if the enzymes elevated after statin therapy. They'd probably write it off to the statins. Remember, for better or worse, HCV testing isn't part of normal screens, just in special circumstances.

-- Jim

[geterdone]

would it not be by default that an elevation in the liver enzymes raises a RED flag to the doctor that something else may be going on with the liver that should be explored further before prescribing the statins.  

jasper

[jmjm530]

It's a legal statement required to air the commercial. Nothing more IMO. Pharmaceutical advertising is highly regulated although the manufacturer's are often very creative in how they get around that. Statins can have an efffect on liver enzymes and therefore that warning. In fact any doctor that prescribes statins -- even to someone with a healthy liver -- will do follow-up liver enzyme tests. For those of us with compromised livers, even more important to do these tests. That said, many people with HCV take statins without any problems.

-- Jim