A recent ecstatic study lauded cholesterol drug Crestor, claiming that the drug reduced the amount of plaque in arteries  and “prevents deaths, heart attacks, strokes, episodes of chest pain, and other serious events.”  The drug  worked so well in a trial, the study was halted because it was “unethical to withhold the drug from the placebo group.”  Ok, a good plaque flush is something to get excited about, especially now that Vytorin and Zetia bit the dust.   But I’m confused – at one point, Crestor seemed on the verge of being pulled off the market because of a black box warning of increased side effects like muscle pain, liver damage, and cognitive problems (otherwise known as “statin stupidity”).   How did we get from there to the board of the American College of Cardiology endorsing the stuff?  Seems safer to take the lowest possible dose of one of the older statins and improve your lifestyle.