The New York Times > Business >LINK: The controversy threatens to overshadow torcetrapib's promise for stopping heart disease. In small trials so far, the drug has sharply increased levels of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol. The only existing treatment for raising good cholesterol is the vitamin niacin, which is also available as prescription slow-release drug. But neither the basic vitamin nor the drug is widely used because of side effects that can include dizziness and flushed skin.

Long-term studies have shown people with higher levels of good cholesterol have significantly lower risks of heart attacks and strokes. Some heart researchers say that raising good cholesterol may eventually be viewed as important as lowering LDL, or bad cholesterol, as Lipitor and other statins, like Zocor and Pravachol, do. Raising good cholesterol and lowering bad cholesterol together could reduce the risk of heart disease by more than 50 percent, they say.