Deeper, Clearer Analysis: Merck's Zetia® And Vytorin® Now Complete Their Fall From Grace, In US -- New Guidelines

In my haste to get the news out yesterday, I didn't make myself very clear, here. My apologies.

Under the new treatment guidelines announced last night, Merck's Zetia^® and Vytorin^®, will no longer be recommended for most patients, in most cases, at least here in the United States.

Now that specific goal numbers are de-emphasized, it will likely mean that statins will not ordinarily be supplemented with a second drug, in all but the most unusual cases. Statins are of course now generic -- Pfizer's Lipitor^® having gone generic just a year ago.

So, the 2014 or 2015 outcome of IMPROVE-IT may not matter much anymore, at least here in the US. And, that my friends, could be material, to Merck's fortunes, longer term. Just to be clear. And so, the countdown timer, at left (curently at 381 days, and change), may become a dead letter.