Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Won't Cause Cancer

HealthDay, August, 2008 by Ed Edelson, HealthDay Reporter

Researchers who last year reported a possible link between cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and cancer now say that further analysis has disproved such an association.

Statin medications include such blockbusters as Crestor, Lipitor, Pravachol and Zocor.

"The bottom line is that there is no evidence from this work, the largest study published to date, that the cholesterol-lowering ability of statins increases the risk of cancer," said Dr. Richard H. Karas, director of preventive cardiology at Tufts Medical Center and leader of a group reporting the finding in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

about one extra case per 1,000 people. That finding came from 13 trials that gathered information on side effects reported by people who took the...