Earlier this year, it was revealed that the U.S. spent $1.5 billion in 2006 on Vytorin, a cholesterol drug that actually does not work better than an older drug, which is sold for a fifth of Vytorin’s price. The two year ENHANCE Study eventually failed to provide evidence that the ezetimibe/simvastatin combination found in Vytorin was better than simvastatin alone. Simvastatin has already reached generic status and is thus much cheaper.

Now, one recent clinical trial indicated higher rates of cancer for patients taking the medication, but the findings were questioned by both experts and the FDA. Two other studies, currently underway, have shown no link between the drug and increased cancer risk.

While lower LDL-cholesterol levels are linked by some studies to a slightly higher incidence of cancer, it seems to be no link that statins themselves pose a cancer risk. For example, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology published a new overlook of 15 statin studies including more than 90,000 patients, which found no higher risk of cancer in people taking statins compared to placebo.

However, the FDA has ordered an investigation which will take around nine months. Statins are a class of drug that reduce the amount of cholesterol produced in the body, and protect people from heart disease.

Since ezetimibe was combined with statins in July 2004, a large advertising campaign started, which led to an increased number of prescriptions of Vytorin in the US. The cholesterol pill produced by Schering-Plough Corp. and Merck & Co. was prescribed 20 million times last year.