Merck Drops Zocor Combo, But Keeps Going With Tredaptive

A brief mention in an SEC filing revealed that Merck has ceased the development of a combination cholesterol pill; the once hot ‘0524 program had languished in late-stages for several years.

Merck & Co. Inc.is cancelling development of a Zocor-based combination of its cholesterol product Tredaptive, but the firm is still moving forward with the statin-free combination of niacin and the novel anti-flushing compound laropiprant.

MK-0524B was a combination of the investigational drug Tredaptive (niacin/laropiprant), aka MK-0524A, and Merck’s blockbuster simvastatin, which went off patent...

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