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Dyslipidaemia

Cardiovascular prevention—end of the road for niacin?

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The recently published HPS2–THRIVE study has shown that the addition of extended release niacin to statin therapy in patients with well-controlled levels of LDL cholesterol does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events and might even increase harm. Consequently, the use of niacin to increase levels of HDL cholesterol is not recommended.

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Figure 1: Biotransformation of niacin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 11–125 Smilow Centre for Translational Research, 3400 Civic Centre Blvd, Philadelphia, 19104, PA, USA

    Sony Tuteja

  2. Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 11–125 Smilow Centre for Translational Research, 3400 Civic Centre Blvd, Philadelphia, 19104, PA, USA

    Daniel J. Rader

Authors
  1. Sony Tuteja
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  2. Daniel J. Rader
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Correspondence to Daniel J. Rader.

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Competing interests

D.J.R has been a consultant for Merck and Eli Lilly. S.T. declares no competing interests.

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Tuteja, S., Rader, D. Cardiovascular prevention—end of the road for niacin?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 10, 646–647 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.159

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