Contraindications
It the European Union it must not be used in pregnant or breast-feeding women. Use during pregnancy is not recommended in the US. History
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended approval of bempedoic acid/ezetimibe (Nustendi) in the EU in January 2020.Bempedoic acid/ezetimibe was approved in the United States in February 2020, and in the European Union in March 2020.Two studies showed that bempedoic acid and ezetimibe effectively reduced LDL cholesterol levels in participants with hypercholesterolemia and heart disease or who were at high risk of heart disease. High cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease.The first study involved 382 participants also taking the maximum tolerated doses of statins. After three months, LDL cholesterol levels were reduced by 36% in participants taking bempedoic acid and ezetimibe compared with a reduction of 23% with ezetimibe alone, 17% with bempedoic acid alone and an increase of around 2% with placebo (a dummy treatment).The second study involved 269 participants with high cholesterol levels who were not able to take a statin or were taking a low dose of a statin. All the participants were also taking ezetimibe. After three months, LDL cholesterol levels were reduced by 23% in participants taking bempedoic acid in addition to ezetimibe compared with an increase of around 5% in participants taking placebo and ezetimibe. References
External links
"Bempedoic acid". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Ezetimibe". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
While accidental tapeworm infections in developed countries are quite rare, such infections are more likely to occur in countries with poor sanitation facilities or where food hygiene standards are low. History and culture
In ancient Greece, the comic playwright Aristophanes and philosopher Aristotle described the lumps that form during cysticercosis as "hailstones". In Medieval times, in The Canon of Medicine, completed in 1025, the Persian physician Avicenna recorded parasites including tapeworms. In the Early Modern period, Francesco Redi described and illustrated many parasites, and was the first to identify the cysts of Echinococcus granulosus seen in dogs and sheep as parasitic in origin; a century later, in 1760, Peter Simon Pallas correctly suggested that these were the larvae of tapeworms.Tapeworms have occasionally appeared in fiction. Peter Marren and Richard Mabey in Bugs Britannica write that Irvine Welshs sociopathic policeman in his 1998 novel Filth owns a talking tapeworm, which they call "the most attractive character in the novel"; it becomes the policemans alter ego and better self. Mira Grants 2013 novel Parasite envisages a world where peoples immune systems are maintained by genetically engineered tapeworms. Tapeworms are prominently mentioned in the System of a Down song "Needles": their inclusion within the song result in a lyrical dispute among band members.There are unproven claims that, around 1900, tapeworm eggs were marketed to the public as slimming tablets. A full-page coloured image, purportedly from a womens magazine of that period, reads "Fat: the enemy ... that is banished! How? With sanitized tape worms. Jar packed. No ill effects!"