Nissen on Niaspan

I'm assuming everyone knows that Niaspan has recently bombed as a supplement to a statin. There's a nice summary here.

Let's set out the Hyperlipid view. HDL is a surrogate for saturated fat consumption. Elevating HDL with a drug will not give the benefits of saturated fat consumption. Triglycerides are a surrogate for sugar consumption. Dropping their level with a drug will not improve health, only putting the sugar in a bin will do that...

Anyway, this one liner post is dedicated to Dr Rentaquote Nissen. From the above link:

"Niacin does all the things that doctors would expect to benefit patients, such as lowering bad cholesterol and triglycerides while raising good cholesterol" said Nissen, who prescribes it for his patients.

“This was the group everybody thought had the best chance at a benefit,” he said today in a telephone interview. “At this point, we have to take a deep breath and realize we’re not as smart as we thought we were.”

Nissen's mistake was to think he was smart in the first place. Big mistake. The glimmer of light is that he might realise he's been an idiot.

Peter