‘Dangerous’ statins CAN damage your health, says top doctor

A DRUG taken by millions to keep their hearts healthy should not be given to patients, a leading doctor has claimed.

AstraZenecaGETTY

AstraZeneca, who manufacture rosuvastatin, defend its safety

Dr Sidney Wolfe believes that rosuvastatin – which is sold under the brand name Crestor – has far less benefit than other statins and a higher risk of more harmful side-effects.

Although its cholesterol-busting ability exceeds that of all other statins, its ability to prevent heart attacks is “weak”, he says, and it dramatically increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dr Wolfe, founder of the Health Research Group at the think-tank Public Citizen, said that worldwide 2013 sales of rosuvastatin were £5.5billion, the third highest for any branded drug.

Crestor has a well-established safety profile backed by peer-reviewed clinical research

AstraZeneca spokeswoman

In the UK, nearly two million prescriptions are dished out for the drug each year.

A spokeswoman for AstraZeneca, which manufactures rosuvastatin, said: “AstraZeneca takes it commitment to patient safety extremely seriously and Crestor has a well-established safety profile backed by peer-reviewed clinical research spanning 13 years and 120 ongoing or completed clinical trials.

“It is approved by healthcare authorities in more than 109 countries and used by tens of millions of patients worldwide.” 

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