Courtesy Marilyn Mann, from a CNN article, of yesterday afternoon:
. . . .Niaspan prescriptions among new patients who hadn't taken any cholesterol drug in the previous 12 months rose 33.8% from the previous week, while prescriptions on that basis for Zetia dropped 24% and were down 16.8% for Vytorin. New Niaspan prescriptions among people who had taken a different cholesterol drug in the previous 12 months rose 45.6% from the week before, while Zetia declined 27.4% and Vytorin dropped 23.7% on similar bases.
Merck spokesman Ron Rogers said the company isn't familiar with the SDI data, and that it would be "premature" to gauge the impact of the Arbiter 6 study on market trends. . . .
2 comments:
any way to include total niacin numbers since niaspan is a script, but alot of niacin OTC could be prescribed as well and could be hiden in that analysis.
Actually, Anon., I am sure that the drug-sales monitoring firms have this data, in the U.S., at least -- but as ever, it comes at a price.
I don't pay for these services, so I can't easily source the figures, but you can be certain that Merck and Abbott (and AZ and Pfizer) are watching these weekly splits -- including U.S. niacin sales (as a part of a cholesterol management regimen), like a murder of crows.
Thanks -- and do stop back!
Namaste
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