Health Highlights: June 18, 2008

• Americans Have to Wait Until 2011 for Generic Lipitor
• Certain Gene Variants Boost Levels of Good Cholesterol
• Obese Women Less Likely to Have Cervical Cancer Screening
• AMA Mum on Menthol Cigarette Exemption
• New Alzheimer's Drug Shows Promise
• U.S. Employers Facing Big Rise in Health Care Costs

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Americans Have to Wait Until 2011 for Generic Lipitor

Generic versions of the cholesterol drug Lipitor won't be available in the United States until Nov. 30, 2011, under the terms of a patent dispute agreement reached between Pfizer Inc. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. of India.

"The agreement provides patients with access to a generic product much earlier than if Ranbaxy were unsuccessful in obtaining approval for its product and overcoming the relevant patents," Ian Read, president of worldwide pharmaceutical operations for Pfizer, said in a prepared statement, the Associated Press reported.

Along with giving more certainty to the timing of generic versions of Lipitor, the agreement gives Pfizer more time to develop replacements for Lipitor before generic versions of the drug go on the market.

The deal also permits Ranbaxy to sell generic versions of Lipitor in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, the AP reported. Pfizer and Ranbaxy also resolved conflicts over Lipitor in Brunei, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam.

The two companies are still involved in patent infringement litigation over Lipitor in Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Romania, and Spain.

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Certain Gene Variants Boost Levels of Good Cholesterol

One third of people have genes that increase levels of "good" HDL cholesterol and may help fight heart disease, says a study by U.K. and Dutch researchers.

They analyzed the findings of almost 100 studies that included about 147,000 patients and found that people with certain types of the CETP gene have about a 5 percent reduced risk of heart attack, BBC News reported.

The findings lend support to the idea that raising HDL cholesterol levels by influencing CETP activity could help prevent heart disease, said study leader Professor John Danesh.

The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, was published in the journal Circulation.

"Researchers are questioning whether approaches that raise HDL cholesterol could further prevent heart disease. This suggests that it might have benefits, but that more studies are needed to determine how much (benefit) might be derived," Professor Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, told BBC News.

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Obese Women Less Likely to Have Cervical Cancer Screening

Compared to women with average body weight, obese women are less likely to be screened for cervical cancer, say Canadian researchers who analyzed the responses of 38,000 women, ages 20 to 69, who took part in a national survey in 2007.

The more obese a woman was, the less likely she was to have Pap smear testing, CBC News reported.

"Obese women are 30 to 40 percent less likely -- depending on the degree of obesity -- to have recommended cervical cancer screening performed," Raj Padwal, a researcher at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

A number of factors may be to blame. For example, Padwal and colleagues found that severely obese women were nearly twice as likely as average-weight women to express fear about cervical cancer screening due to pain, embarrassment or anxiety about the findings, CBC News reported.

A woman's weight didn't have any effect on breast and colon cancer screening.

The study was expected to be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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AMA Mum on Menthol Cigarette Exemption

The American Medical Associated voted Tuesday to defer comment on a proviso in federal tobacco legislation that would grant an exemption to menthol while banning other cigarette flavor additives such as mint, clove, and vanilla.

The AMA voted "to refer the decision on menthol to its board, effectively silencing the doctors who wanted the organization to speak out against the exemption," the Associated Press reported. The exemption is key to a compromise that would give regulatory control of cigarettes to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.