Report on 300 New Medicines in Development for Heart Disease and Stroke Released in In...(gh blood pressure high cholesterol and d...),Health

Today's news briefing featured Olympic gold medalist swimmer and Indiana University alum Mark Spitz, who suffers from high cholesterol. Considered one of the most dominant Olympic athletes ever, Spitz earned a total of 11 medals, including a record-breaking seven Gold Medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Spitz spoke of discovering, at age 38, that he had high cholesterol and was at risk for developing heart disease. Now, Spitz is an advocate for cholesterol testing and heart health, spurred by his personal battle.

"I realized that I had to get the message out that regardless of how healthy you think you are, you may be walking around with this silent killer. I was surprised that this could happen to me - after all, I've worked out my whole life. But heart disease and stroke can strike anyone," said Spitz.

The medicines in the report are being tested in human clinical trials or are awaiting approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"In recent years, the development of effective medicines that control blood pressure and cholesterol has allowed us to better control the risk factors for cardiovascular events and has helped significantly cut deaths from heart disease and stroke," said Dr. J. Anthony Ware, Eli Lilly & Company, Vice President and Global Platform Leader, Diabetes and Cardiovascular.

According to a 2008 report by the American Heart Association, death rates for cardiovascular disease fell a dramatic 26.4 percent between 1999 and 2005.

Medicines now in the research pipeline include 36 for high blood pressure, 33 for heart failure, 16 for heart attacks, and 22 for stroke. Many of the potential medicines use cutting-edge technologies and new approaches such as one that uses human stem cells to form new heart muscle and restore cardiac functioning, and another that is a gene therapy th
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