Lord Warner said examples of products where restrictions are likely to be lifted include 75mg aspirin tablets for secondary prevention of heart attack or stroke, and the use of products containing calcium and vitamin D by patients with osteoporosis.

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Now, however, there are data showing some sign of heart risk for every Cox-2 inhibitor ever approved in the U.S. Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke in one cancer prevention study, and now the same is true for Celebrex.

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Topol, chief academic officer at Scripps Health, says he tried to get Schering and Merck to start a big heart-attack-prevention trial of Vytorin four years ago.

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But for those for whom prevention has not succeeded, the work of Dr Bolli and his collaborators and rivals brings hope that a heart attack will, in the future, not be quite the fearful prospect it is today.

ECONOMIST: Stem cells and medicine: Repairing broken hearts | The