New England Journal of Medicine: Vytorin-Cancer Link ‘Uncertain’...

The medical community shouldn’t rush to dismiss a possible link between Vytorin and cancer, the New England Journal of Medicine says in an editorial this morning.

The editorial appears alongside the results of a study in which patients who took the drug were more likely to develop cancer than those who took placebo. Also appearing in this morning’s NEJM is an analysis that looked at the new study along with two other, larger studies, and concluded that the data “do not provide credible evidence” that Vytorin raises the risk of cancer.

The basic findings of the study and the analysis were released in July. Vytorin, which is co-marketed by Merck and Schering-Plough, is actually a combination of two drugs: a statin called simvastatin, and a second cholesterol-lowering drug called ezetimibe, sold alone under the brand name Zetia.

The NEJM editorial noted that the analysis of multiple Vytorin studies found that the drugs didn’t increase the risk of cancer, but did show a slight increase in cancer deaths. The analysis concluded that the increase is simply a fluke.

But while future research may confirm that Vytorin doesn’t raise the risk of cancer deaths, the editorial said, “it is appropriate to raise a note of caution. Whether the increased mortality risk is due solely to the play of chance is uncertain. … Physicians and patients are unfortunately left for now with uncertainty about the efficacy and safety of the drug.”

The data are being presented today at a big cardiology conference in Munich. For more on on the controversy surrounding Vytorin see the New York Times front-page story in the paper’s series on evidence gaps in the practice of medicine.