FDA approves Merck combination cholesterol lowering pill

(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a Merck & Co cholesterol lowering pill that combines a generic version of Pfizer Inc’s Lipitor with its own Zetia, Merck said on Friday. The new combination drug will be sold under the brand name Liptruzet and will begin shipping to wholesalers next week, the company said. Merck already sells a two-drug cholesterol fighter called Vytorin that combines Zetia, known chemically as ezetimibe, with Merck’s older LDL lowering medicine Zocor. Lipitor, known chemically as atorvastatin, is considered to a more powerful statin than Zocor. …