Drug reverses heart disease

Medical researchers believe they have found a drug which could not just stem, but actually reverse the causes of some forms of heart disease, report agencies.

A global survey --involving more than 500 patients with cardiovascular disease at centres in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia -- has shown that taking a single tablet of rosuvastatin daily over two years can actually reduce fatty build-ups, known as atherosclerosis, which leads to heart attacks and strokes.

Rosuvastatin, commercially known as Crestor, along with other statins, is known to cut cholesterol levels.

Dr Neal Uren, consultant cardiologist at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary, described the reduction as the "Holy Grail" in the fight to combat heart disease.

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"It suggests that very aggressive lowering of cholesterol can actually have an affect on the plaque in each of the blood vessels," he was quoted as saying. 

Earlier research indicated that heart disease is a chronic, progressive disease which can be slowed but not reversed.

Doctors, however, warned that while the fresh research has shown a reduction in the fatty deposits, this did not necessarily translate into a reduction in the number of deaths from heart attacks.

Professor Peter

Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, was quoted as saying that while the study was 'important,' it was yet to be demonstrated whether breaking down the fatty deposits would actually mean fewer heart attacks.

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"Previously it was thought that statins saved lives by stabilising plaques - the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries - thereby preventing them from rupturing to cause a heart attack or stroke. This study encouragingly seems to demonstrate a small but definite regression of atherosclerotic plaques," he said.

"However, this study wasn't designed to test whether this treatment actually saves lives, so whilst the results sound promising and are likely to translate into a better outcome for heart patients, we still need further studies to confirm whether the regression demonstrated translates to fewer heart attacks."

Nevertheless, the news was "dramatically exciting" and its importance "cannot be underestimated," The BBC quoted Dr Sarah Jarvis, a London GP and member of the Royal College of General Practitioners, as saying.

"For the first time we have a drug that can not only halt the progression of the disease, but in the vast majority of patients, it actually showed the disease regress."