But Tall has gone back and forth over the years over whether raising HDL will work.
It's difficult to know, but there are signs an HDL-raising pill might be marketable.
In these people, the combination of torcetrapib and Lipitor raised HDL 57% more than Lipitor alone.
High-density lipoprotein, better known as HDL or "good cholesterol, " has become a medical mainstay.
Last November Pfizer announced the failure of torcetrapib, a drug to boost good cholesterol (HDL).
Merck unveiled another kind of HDL-raiser, a drug to inhibit the cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP).
Indeed, research has long shown that people with high HDL levels face fewer heart attacks.
As expected, mipomersen also resulted in significant reductions in app B, total cholesterol, and non-HDL cholesterol.
The promise of niacin, which can raise HDL by as much as 26%, is long established.
Meanwhile, other firms are seeking to use modified versions of the HDL protein itself.
Pfizer, Novartis and others are working on synthetic HDL that can be injected or even swallowed.
Even if all those drugs fail, other methods of raising HDL might prove effective.
Some even argue that focusing on HDL exclusively may have been a scientific wrong turn.
But the relationship between HDL and heart disease turned out to be maddeningly complex.
The mysterious HDL is thought to unclog arteries gunked up by too many french fries.
Pfizer's torcetrapib drug may have produced large amounts of dysfunctional HDL and just worsened the problem.
Every one point rise in HDL decreased heart disease risk by 2%, the Framingham researchers concluded.
Complicating matters further, HDL contains a constantly shifting array of 50 or more associated proteins.
Apo A-1 is thought to be the key HDL component that removes cholesterol from cells.
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Niacin is a vitamin that can raise the level of HDL cholesterol (the good type).
Alcohol, including beer, in moderation raises high-density lipoprotein or HDL, known as good cholesterol, says Dr. R.
The impact of the little HDL increase appears as important as that of the big LDL decrease.
AtheroGenics' drug actually lowers HDL, which could add to the confusion over how to understand the results.
He points out that patients received the drug, a mutation of HDL cholesterol, for only five weeks.
The study also found some improvement in HDL or "good" cholesterol in those who took up drinking.
The case for raising HDL rests not on clinical trials but mostly on studies showing circumstantial connections.
In fact, extremely high HDL levels may actually be a sign of a problem, says Allen J.
An experimental Pfizer drug designed to raise HDL (good cholesterol) recently increased mortality in a large clinical trial.
Because D-4F is a small fragment of HDL, it may not have the dump-truck effect of clearing plaque.
But simply losing weight would not boost HDL. Rimonabant seems to do more than simply help people diet.
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