Demon

Cholesterol

Statins to the Rescue? 

Bempedoic Acid: A Newer Useless Cholesterol-Lowering Drug

Pam Popper, President
Wellness Forum Health

Bempedoic acid is one of a new class of non-statin drugs for lowering LDL cholesterol that targets the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway in the liver. The FDA approved it as a treatment for people who are statin-intolerant or who have reached maximum tolerated statin therapy for treatment of high plasma cholesterol. Made by Esperion, the drug is available in two forms. Nexletol is comprised only of bempedoic acid, and Nexlizet is a combination of bempedoic acid and ezetimibe (Zetia). 

Esperion’s website reports that "once-daily therapy was shown in a clinical trial to deliver" 38% reduction in LDL-C compared to placebo.[1] Keep in mind that this is a change in a surrogate marker – which may not have any relationship to meaningful health improvement.

According to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a randomized controlled clinical trial that included 13,970 patients showed that treatment with bempedoic acid was associated with a lower risk of major cardiovascular events – deaths from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization. According to the study, the relative risk reduction for heart attacks in patients taking Nexletol was almost 23%.[2] One could conclude from this overview that this drug is a reasonable alternative to statins and might be even more effective, a good thing since, when used for primary prevention statin drugs reduce the risk of events by less than 2%.

But further analysis, looking at risk reduction in myocardial infarction in absolute terms shows a different picture:

          Nexletol group: 261 MI events in 6992 patients         3.7% risk
          Placebo:           334 MI events in 6978 patients         4.8% risk
          Absolute risk reduction:                                             1.1% reduction
          Relative risk reduction:                                            22.9% reduction

In other words, the drug delivers a statistically significant result that is clinically meaningless to the person who takes it.

Some additional information from the Esperion’s website reinforces the uselessness of this drug:

"Limitations of use for both Nexletol and Nexlezet:

The effect of NEXLETOL and NEXLIZET on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality has not been determined."

"Safety information:

Side effects of Nexletol include hyperuricemia, tendon rupture, upper respiratory infections, muscle spasms, back pain, abdominal pain, bronchitis, pain in the extremities, anemia, and elevated liver enzymes. Many of these are the same side effects that are caused by statin drugs."

Almost no one would agree to take this drug if shown the actual risk reduction and the side effects. Most people might at least consider adopting a low-fat, plant-centered diet if given data showing the incredible health improvement that results. This lack of real informed consent is one of the reasons why people remain so sick, and why the erroneous perception of the lazy American who does not care about health and just wants to take a pill persists. The pill is falsely represented to be safe and effective, and the diet and lifestyle choice is almost never offered.

Reporting the benefit of drugs, supplements, and medical interventions in relative terms is very misleading, and relative risk reduction should not be the metric used in making treatment decisions.
 

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[1] https://www.nexlizethcp.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_r6hBhDdARIsAMIDhV9YjqqGzkaRcJPyg4wBWia8k7AVD41vBlcEWamNmBOMTDXqJaWnxRMaAid2EALw_wcB

[2] Nissen SE, Lincoff AM. Brennan D et al. "Bempedoic Acid and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Statin-Intolerant Patients." NEJM 2023 Mar; doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2215024. Online ahead of print

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DYI:  I'm no medical expert - since COVID so many of these doctors on TV would not be deemed medical experts - be as that may be; an absolute risk from myocardial infarction is only 3.7% that sounds great since the demon cholesterol that - [may not have any relationship to meaningful health improvement] - but when compared to the placebo group only 4.8%!  Simple arithmetic this is only an absolute improvement of 1.1%  

Plus it does make one wonder as these statin drugs do lower bad cholesterol and yet the absolute drop is from 4.8% to 3.7%...Is cholesterol the big bad demon it is made out to be???  Despite both clinical groups having high bad cholesterol only 4.8% of the placebo group had a myocardial infraction event.  

My Lord with all of the talk regarding cholesterol one would think this placebo group would be dropping off like flies!  Then the statin group only drops by 1.1% on an absolute basis further damning the cholesterol narrative.  My opinion - and again I'm no doctor nor some health professional - cholesterol has as much to do with heart disease as EMT's (Emergency Medical Technicians) causing vehicle accidents!

So little - a case can be made that the improvement is nothing more than statistical noise - for those taking any statin drug will subject themselves to side affects and long term use to permanent harms and possible death.  The risk of harm in my judgement significantly out ways what possible improvement  - and that is debatable - this new statin along with the whole statin group as well.  

I do have a problem with Pam Popper as she thinks that COVID is real and that it came out of a bio-lab in Wuhan China.  I do not know if she is controlled Ops or a misdirected medical expert.  However she does put out excellent info - [so far as I can tell] - regarding anything non COVID.

Till Next Time

DYI