VAP(R) Cholesterol Test Helps Researchers Identify Treatment Effects of Combinati...( Coadministration of ezetimibe/sim...)

Coadministration of ezetimibe/simvastatin and fenofibrate results in more favorable lipid profile in mixed hyperlipidemia patients

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Using the VAP Cholesterol Test from Atherotech, Inc., investigators led by Michel Farnier M.D., of Point Medical, Rond Point de la Nation, Dijon, France, have reported beneficial changes in lipoprotein subclasses and LDL particle size using combination therapy. The information could be helpful to physicians because of the known association between abnormal lipoprotein subfractions and increased cardiovascular risk in patients with mixed hyperlipidemia.

Using the Vertical Auto Profile (VAP Test) and S3GGE(TM) particle methods, researchers from the recent study titled VAP II analysis of lipoprotein subclasses in mixed hyperlipidemic patients on treatment with ezetimibe/simvastatin and fenofibrate discovered that combination therapy achieved greater reductions in cholesterol classes in high-risk patients and resulted in greater positive changes in lipoprotein profile than monotherapy.

Because of the complex nature of mixed hyperlipidemia, medical guidelines recommend treating patients with a combination of lipid-lowering agents. However, clinicians continue to search for the optimal combination to achieve target lipid levels.

"Mixed hyperlipidemia is characterized by an excess of small, dense LDL associated with an increase of triglyceride and a decrease of HDL-cholesterol levels," said Farnier, lead author of the study. "The patients with mixed dyslipidemia frequently require a combination therapy to normalize this atherogenic lipoprotein profile, and in this specific study the combined therapy of ezetimibe/simvastatin and fenofibrate has produced favorable effects on all the atherogenic lipoprotein subclasses."

Details of the 12-week, multi-center, double blind, parallel group study were published in the Journal of Lipid Research. In the study, 611 patient
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