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HDL drug class struggling after latest flop - The failure of Dalcetrapib, a drug designed to raise HDL, or 'good', cholesterol, has turned the spotlight again on such drugs. Dalcetrapib is a cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor - the first CETP inhibitor, Torcetrapib was a high-profile failure back in 2006, with trials stopped because the drug raised blood pressure. Dalcetrapib's failure was different - it simply didn't work. Two more CETP inhibitors are still in development, Anacetrapib and Evacetrapib. But is there still a future for CETP as a target? Reference: B F Voight et al, The Lancet, 2012, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60312-2