By Jeffery Kurz

MERIDEN — Daniel Pisani has been taking the cholesterol drug Vytorin for a year, but after his current prescription runs out those days will be over.
Full results of a clinical study released Sunday show that Vytorin is no more effective at limiting the buildup of plaque in the bloodstream than Zocor, a drug available in generic form. During a visit with his cardiologist Monday, Pisani was told he will go back to using the generic form of Zocor.
“You find out something different about these drugs all the time,” Pisani said. As far as Vytorin is concerned, “from what they told me, it’s not going to do you any harm, it’s just not going to do you any good,” he said.
The 63-year-old Pisani, who suffered a heart attack six years ago, has been using cholesterol medication for several years. The Meriden resident read about the Vytorin study in the Record Journal on Monday, on which he had an appointment with his doctor that day.
Others responded to the report, a partial version of which was released early this year, by checking with their physicians.
“We’ve had lots of people expressing concern,” said Dr. Robert J. Golub, a MidState Medical Center-affiliated cardiologist with the Cardiology Associates of Central Connecticut in Wallingford. His office received about a half-dozen calls about the Vytorin study Monday.
Vytorin, a combination of Zocor and the drug Zetia, was prescribed to patients whose cholesterol levels did not respond well to older statin drugs such as Lipitor or Crestor. Also, about 5 percent of those taking the older statin drugs experience side effects, and Vytorin had been considered an option for those patients.
A key concern is that the release of the study could lead patients away from statins, which are effective in reducing plague and preventing heart disease.
“There is great danger that patients will stop the wrong drug,” said Golub. “The statins remain a good medicine.”
They’ve been working for Marie Filipowicz, a 49-year-old Meriden resident who’s been taking Lipitor for about six years.
“Without it, my cholesterol was sky high,” said Filipowicz, who had not heard about the Vytorin study. Filipowicz said her cholesterol levels are now within the recommended guidelines, “and that’s without the so-called watching what you eat,” she said.
Along with statins for some patients, recommendations for reducing the risk of heart! disease include exercise, weight control and nonsmoking.
“The controversy is not about statins,” said Golub. “The benefits are unquestioned.”
“I would urge everyone to remember that there is no danger here, there is no emergency,” said Golub. “They should not stop their medicine.” Those concerned should check with their doctors, he said.
Golub said the study also “raises a lot of questions about how drugs are marketed in the United States.” As in, for example, whether they should be advertised on television.
According to the Associated Press, $472.8 million was spent marketing Vytorin, a joint venture between Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. Share prices for the two companies fell to record lows Monday.