In the United States, the cost paid for statins (drugs to lower cholesterol) in people under the age of 65 who have private insurance is approximately 400 percent higher than comparable costs paid by the government in the United Kingdom.

People with high cholesterol are at risk of heart attack and stroke because atherosclerotic plaques within their arteries can rupture triggering the formation of a blood clot called an occlusive thrombus that cuts off the blood supply to their heart or brain.

Missing clinical trial data can harm patients and lead to futile costs to health systems, warn experts as part of an in-depth BMJ review of the matter. Missing data is a serious problem in clinical research. It distorts the scientific record, so that clinical decisions cannot be based on the best evidence.

Viral diseases are still one of the biggest challenges to medical science. Thanks to thousands of years of co-evolution with humans, their ability to harness the biology of their human hosts to survive and thrive makes them very difficult to target with medical treatment.

Treating ovarian cancer with the drug bevacizumab ("Avastin") delays the disease and may also improve survival, show the results of an international clinical trial co-led by Drs. Amit Oza of the Princess Margaret Cancer Program, University Health Network and Timothy Perren, St James's Institute of Oncology, Leeds, UK.

Half the drugs used today target a single class of proteins - and now scientists have identified an important molecular player critical to the proper workings of those proteins critical to our health.

How sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, can alleviate heart problems is reported by Bochum's researchers in cooperation with colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (Minnesota) in the journal Circulation.