They also ignore decades of prior clinical end point data, such as NIH CPPT and POSCH on bile acid sequestration, that formed the basis for NCEP ATP I prior to any statin clinical outcomes.
In LRC-CPPT, patients on cholestyramine, a bile acid sequestrant resin, had 20% lower LDL as compared to an 8% drop on placebo and, after seven years, had a 24% reduction in CV deaths versus placebo.
Furthermore, landmark studies such as the Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (LRC-CPPT) and the Scandanavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S) showed that lowering LDL cholesterol has the direct result of reducing cardiovascular (CV) deaths.