US pharma giant, Merck (MRK) has decided not to file its anti-cholesterol drug, Anacetrapid, for approval with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after it produced poor clinical trial results. The drug only managed to lower the risk of heart attack in a group of 30,000 high cholesterol patients by 9 per cent – just 1 per cent better than the placebo.
Not only were the trial results unspectacular, but the cholesterol busting market is enormously competitive. Having been dominated for several decades by statins, many large pharmaceutical companies are currently working on a new generation of medicine known as PCSK9 inhibitors. These drugs have been proven to reduce cholesterol by as much as 60 per cent, significantly better than Anacetrapid.