Storm clouds are gathering over the British government’s decision to make a cholesterol-lowering statin drug available without a prescription in the United Kingdom -- a concept currently being considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Admininstration.An editorial in the May 22 issue of The Lancet said the move to allow over-the-counter sales of the drug “is unfortunate for the UK public, who will be the guinea pigs in this large-scale OTC experiment.” The statin that will hit British store shelves in July is simvastatin (Zocor).
