Roche Reveals Cholesterol Drug Has Completed Successful Phase II Trial

Swiss drug manufacturer Roche said that its experimental drug for cholesterol has successfully passed the Phase II trial and revealed that it did not increase blood pressure among its users. The results mean that Roche has successfully overcome the problem that sank Pfizer’s cholesterol drug, torcetrapib, which was found to drastically increase the blood pressure.

Roche also revealed that their drug, known as dalcetrapib, increased the level of HDL, or good cholesterol, by more than 31 percent.

Announcing the results, lead investigator Thomas Luescher revealed that while dalcetrapib was not as effective in increasing HDL levels as torcetrapib, it could be an advantage for the drug. “I think we can say it is safe and has no untoward effects and it does the job as far as the lipid (cholesterol) profile is concerned”, he said.



Source-Medindia