Hope for Unhealthy Hearts

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Merck & Co., which markets simvastatin under the brand name Zocor (and which funded the study), is expected to enjoy a boost in sales, as will other drug companies that offer competing products. "Anything that lowers cholesterol will produce the same effect," says Dr. Lance Gould of the University of Texas medical school in Houston. As if to underscore that point, a separate study released last week showed that a combination of estrogen and a new form of progesterone can cut cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease among postmenopausal women as much as 25% -- without serious side effects.

Not everyone with high cholesterol is a good candidate for drug therapy. Otherwise healthy people over the age of 70, a group of experts recently concluded, are not likely to benefit from a rigorous cholesterol-lowering regimen. But for people at high risk of dying from heart disease -- especially the 1.5 million Americans who will suffer heart attacks this year -- the new cholesterol-loweri ng drugs may mean the difference between life and death.