Health: Cholesterol's One-Two Punch

Millions of Americans already take a drug to lower their LDL, or bad cholesterol, but if things go Pfizer's way, they may end up adding a pill that raises HDL, the good cholesterol that helps keep arteries clean. A study in the current New England Journal of Medicine reports that the drug torcetrapib boosted HDL levels 46%. When it was combined with the LDL-lowering drug Lipitor, the results were even more dramatic: HDL levels rose 61%, and LDL fell even more than it did with Lipitor alone. But will raising HDL levels mean lower rates of heart disease and fewer deaths?...

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