The connection between cholesterol and cardiovascular disease is by now so well established that inflammatory markers like CRP, while they may prove useful to test and treat, will not take the place of cholesterol any time soon, says Alan Daugherty, PhD, the director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Kentucky.

CNN: The cholesterol-inflammation connection

"I think it's unlikely that further barking up the tree of LDL is going to show a substantial benefit, " says Allen Taylor, chief of cardiovascular research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

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"I wouldn't be surprised if COURAGE, as designed, is a negative trial, " Gregg Stone, director of cardiovascular research and education at Columbia University Medical Center, said two weeks ago.

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