UK cost agency urges far wider use of statin drugs

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – Doctors should use cholesterol-lowering statin drugs much more widely to prevent heart attacks and strokes, according to Britain’s healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog. In a major revision to 2008 guidelines, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends the threshold for starting on statins should be halved from a 20 percent risk of developing cardiovascular disease over 10 years to a 10 percent risk. An estimated 7 million people in Britain already take statins at an annual cost of around 450 million pounds ($738 million), and reducing the benchmark for treatment would increase that number significantly. But increased use is viewed as a cost-effective strategy, since cardiovascular disease in England alone cost the state-run National Health Service (NHS) some 7.88 billion pounds in 2010.