Doctors back two-pronged approach to cholesterol

BARCELONA, Sep 4 (Reuters) Treatment with conventional statin drugs alone may be inadequate for high-risk patients with raised cholesterol levels and the majority of European doctors favour a two-pronged approach, according to a survey.

The poll of 879 physicians, released at the World Congress of Cardiology, found 72 percent thought patients with risk factors such as coronary heart disease or diabetes might be insufficiently treated with statin monotherapy.

In addition, 64 percent of doctors were reluctant to prescribe high doses of statins to high-risk patients because of concerns around safety and side effects.

Instead, 86 percent of those questioned agreed that treating two sources of cholesterol -- production in the liver and absorption in the intestine -- was likely to produce better results.

Statin drugs like Pfizer Inc's Lipitor, Merck&Co Inc's Zocor and AstraZeneca Plc's Crestor, treat liver production alone.

The survey was backed by Merck and Schering-Plough Corp , which market a new two-in-one cholesterol medicine called Vytorin, or Inegy, which contains a novel intestinal absorption inhibitor as well as a statin.

Reuters KR VP0815