Existing options include Zetia and niacin, sold in prescription form by Kos Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: KOSP - news - people ).

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Ballantyne points to the success of a delayed-release niacin pill from Kos Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: KOSP - news - people ), which is increasingly popular among cardiologists.

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In the study where it helped patients lose weight, the drug also raised good cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein (HDL), by 23%, almost as much as Niaspan, the sustained-release niacin drug made by Kos Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: KOSP - news - people ) that is the main currently available treatment for raising HDL. Rimonabont also cut triglycerides, another risk factor for heart disease, by 16%.

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But other companies are filing in behind, including Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ), Roche , Novartis (nyse: NVS - news - people ) and Kos Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: KOSP - news - people ), the small firm whose niacin preparations are the only marketed drugs to raise 'good cholesterol, ' also known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

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