Expert panel recommends doctors abandon Vytorin cholesterol drug

"An expert panel from the American College of Cardiology has recommended that doctors stop prescribing the cholesterol-lowering drugs Zetia and Vytorin and stick with the older, proven class of cholesterol drugs known as statins. 'Our strongest recommendation is that people need to go back to statins,' said Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale University, speaking on behalf of the panel before the college's Chicago meeting. Among their reasons for coming to consensus that the drugs should no longer be used, the panelists cited lack of evidence that they lengthen patients' lives and lack of knowledge about potential risks"