The staggering price of prescription drugs is threatening to bankrupt the U.S. healthcare system. According to the Wall Street Journal, it costs the Ford Motor Company $704.00 per vehicle sold to pay the health-care expenses of current and retired employees.[1] Ford expects annual double-digit increases in health-care expenditures, an amount it cannot afford to pay.
Campaign contributions by drug companies have bought a lot of influence in Washington. A growing citizens revolt, however, is causing some members of Congress to question laws that enable pharmaceutical companies to charge extortionist prices.[2]
A solution to the high drug price problem can be found in the free market. An example of how a “liberated†marketplace would function is a natural agent that works as well as cholesterol-lowering drugs, is far safer and costs substantially less. The name of this dietary supplement is policosanol.
The price of policosanol has just been reduced by 40%. This means that compared to cholesterol-lowering drugs, policosanol is 90% less expensive.
In this article we reveal new studies showing that policosanol is even more effective than originally thought.
Policosanol is becoming the hottest dietary supplement on the American marketplace. Clinical studies show policosanol works as well as FDA-approved drugs in lowering cholesterol…but is free of toxic side-effects.
In addition to reducing dangerous LDL-cholesterol, policosanol increases beneficial HDL-cholesterol, inhibits abnormal platelet aggregation, protects against LDL oxidation and suppresses arterial inflammatory factors.
Several disturbing reports in year 2001 showed that FDA-approved cholesterol-lowering drugs cause more side-effects than previously reported.[3-8] One drug (Baychol) had to be withdrawn because more than 31 humans died from its toxic side-effects in the United States alone.[9]
Contrary to the negative reports on cholesterol-lowering drugs, new studies show policosanol is ultra-safe and even more effective than what previous studies indicated.
In a randomized, double-blind study published in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacological Research, doctors investigated the efficacy and tolerability of policosanol at doses of 20 mg a day compared with 40 mg a day. Patients with high cholesterol had been on a cholesterol-lowering diet, but failed to achieve desired results. The patients were instructed to continue the cholesterol-lowering diet and were allocated to receive either placebo, policosanol 20 mg/day, or 40 mg/day.
After 24 weeks, policosanol at 20 and 40 mg/day lowered LDL-cholesterol by 27.4% and 28.1%, while total cholesterol was reduced by 15.6% and 17.3% respectively. Most impressive was the finding that beneficial HDL-cholesterol was increased by 17.6% in the 20mg/day and 17% in the 40 mg/day policosanol groups. There were no significant changes in the placebo group.
High levels of HDL-cholesterol may be the most important factor in protecting against cholesterol-induced arterial disease. It is the HDL molecule that removes plaque from arterial walls. Scientific studies show that people with the highest levels of HDL cholesterol have the greatest longevity.
The conclusion of this study was that 20 mg a day of policosanol provides about the same cholesterol-lowering efficacy as 40 mg a day. Consistent with previous studies, no adverse effects were observed.[10]
In another recent study, the effects of policosanol were measured on menopausal women in a randomized, double-blind, multicenter placebo-controlled trial. These women showed elevated total and LDL cholesterol despite a six-week standard lipid-lowering diet. Eligible patients were randomized to receive placebo or policosanol 5 mg/day for eight weeks and the dose was doubled to 10 mg/day during the next eight weeks.
Policosanol (5 and 10 mg/day) significantly decreased LDL-cholesterol (17.3% and 26.7%, respectively) and total cholesterol (12.9% and 19.5%). HDL-cholesterol levels were raised by 7.4% at study completion. No significant changes occurred in the lipid profile of the placebo group. No drug-related adverse effects were observed.
In addition, 46.4% of the policosanol group reported improvements in chronic symptoms and health perception compared to only 17.9% in the placebo group. The conclusion of the study was that policosanol was effective and well tolerated in hypercholesterolemic postmenopausal women, showing additional benefits in health perception.[11]
In still another new study published in the Journal of Gerontology and Biological Science-Medical Science, the effects of policosanol in older patients with high cholesterol and more than one other atherosclerotic risk factor was investigated. After six weeks on a lipid-lowering diet, patients randomly received a placebo or policosanol.
Policosanol (5 and 10 mg/day) significantly reduced LDL-cholesterol (16.9% and 24.4%, respectively) and total cholesterol (12.8% and 16.2%, respectively), while significantly increasing HDL-cholesterol by 14.6% and 29.1%, respectively. Triglyceride levels remained un-changed. Policosanol, but not the placebo, significantly improved cardiovascular capacity, which was assessed using the Specific Activity Scale. No serious adverse experiences occurred in the policosanol patients. The conclusions of this study were that policosanol is effective, safe and well tolerated in older patients with high cholesterol.[12]
Purchase Cholesterol Supplement with Policosanol
STUDIES
1. Wall Street Journal Nov 21, 2001, page A1. Page One Feature, “Auto Industry Faces Effects of Price Pressure As Economists Debate Possibility of Deflation,†by Norihiko Shirouzu and Jon E. Hilsenrath, Staff Reporters of the Wall Street Journal.
2.Wall Street Journal Nov 21, 2001, page A16. Politics & Policy, “Industry Splits Over Bristol-Myers’s Bid To Protect Top Drug From Generic Sales,†by Gardiner Harris and Laurie McGinley, Staff Reporters of the Wall Street Journal.
3. Bernini F, et al. Safety of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: focus on atorvastatin. Cardiovasc Drugs Ther 2001;15(3):211-8.
4. Chazerain P et al. Four cases of tendinopathy in patients on statin therapy. Joint Bone Spine 2001 Oct;68(5):430-3.
5. Federman DG, et al. Fatal rhabdomyolysis caused by lipid-lowering therapy. South Med J 2001 Oct;94(10):1023-6.
6. Omar MA, et al. Rhabdomyolysis and HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. Ann Pharmacother 2001 Sep;35(9):1096-107.
7. Boger RH. Drug interactions of the statins and consequences for drug selection.
8. Shek A, et al. Statin-fibrate combination therapy. Ann Pharmacother 2001 Jul-Aug;35(7-8):908-17.
9. Hodgson J. Bayer lapse exposes pharma’s vulnerability. Nat Biotechnol 2001 Oct;19(10):897-8.
10. Castano G, et al. Effects of policosanol 20 versus 40 mg/day in the treatment of patients with type II hypercholesterolemia: a 6-month double-blind study. Int J Clin Pharmacol Res 2001;21(1):43-57.
11. Mirkin A, et al. Efficacy and tolerability of policosanol in hypercholesterolemic postmenopausal women. Int J Clin Pharmacol Res 2001;21(1):31-41.
12. Castano G, et al. Effects of policosanol in older patients with type II hypercholesterolemia and high coronary risk. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2001 Mar;56(3):M186-92.
13. Castano G, et al. A long-term study of policosanol in the treatment of intermittent claudication. Angiology 2001 Feb;52(2):115-25.
14. Mas R, et al. Effects of policosanol in patients with type II hypercholesterolemia and additional coronary risk factors. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1999 Apr;65(4):439-47.
15. Noa M, et al. Effect of policosanol on lipofundin-induced atherosclerotic lesions in rats. J Pharm Pharmacol 1995 Apr;47(4):289-91.
16. Arruzazabala ML, Noa M. Protective effect of policosanol on atherosclerotic lesions in rabbits with exogenous hypercholesterolemia. Braz J Med Biol Res 2000 Jul;33(7):835-40.
17. Menendez R, et al. Oral administration of policosanol inhibits in vitro copper ion-induced rat lipoprotein peroxidation. Physiol Behav 1999 Aug 1;67(1):1-7.
18. Xu XP, et al. 1999. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein regulates matrix metalloproteinase-9 and its tissue inhibitor in human monocyte-derive macrophages. Circulation 99:993-8.
19. Noa M, et al. 1996. Effect of policosanol on foam-cell formation in carrageenan-induced granulomas in rats. J Pharm Pharmacol 48:282-5.
20. Lindstedt L, et al. 1999. matrix metalloproteinases-3, -7, and -12, but not -9, reduce high density lipoprotein-induced cholesterol efflux from human macrophage foam cells by truncation of carboxyl terminus of apolipoprotein A-I. Parallel losses of pre-beta particles and the high affinity component of efflux. J Biol Chem 274:22627-34.
21. Noa M, et al. 1998. Effect of policosanol on damaged arterial wall induced by forceps in rabbits. J Electron Microsc 4:629-30.
22. Negre-Aminou P, et al. 1996. Antiproliferative potencies of 6 vastatins in cultured human cells: involvement of the ras-mediated signalling pathway. 66th Cong Eur Atheroscler Soc (July 13-17, Florence): 120.
23. Arruzazabala ML, et al. 1997. Comparative study of policosanol, aspirin and the combination therapy policosanol-aspirin on platelet aggregation in healthy volunteers. Pharmacol Res 36:293-7.
24. Stusser R, et al. 1998. Long-term therapy with policosanol improves treadmill exercise-ECG testing performance of coronary heart disease patients. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther 36:469-73.
25. Carbajal D, et al. 1998. Effect of policosanol on platelet aggregation and serum levels of arachidonic acid metabolites in healthy volunteers. Prost Leuk Essen Fatty Acids 58:61-4