Merck has announced that anacetrapib, a cholesterol-lowering medicine, reduced heart problems and strokes in a 30,000-patient clinical trial lasted for years, giving the drug giant a success where Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Roche have all failed. Nevertheless  the company has yet to decide whether to seek approval, as the company are considering if the results are strong enough to go through in a regulatory approval: “Merck plans to review the results of the trial with external experts, and will consider whether to file new drug applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies,” the company said in a statement.

According to  Dr. Steven Nissen, chief of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, who has studied other drugs in the class known as CETP inhibitors, “the fact that they’re hedging their bets … suggests that the treatment effect may have been relatively small.”

Shares of the pharmaceutical company climbed in premarket trade but then reversed when official trading began.

The details of the study will be revealed at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology on August 29.

Just over 10 years ago, CETP inhibitors were considered to be  as the next big heart drug due to their ability to dramatically raise HDL, the so-called good cholesterol.

Pfizer was the first to dive in with  its torcetrapib to replace lost revenue when Lipitor, then the world’s top-selling medicine, lost patent protection. However, despite the postive forecast, the company had to pull out from  Phase III program over an imbalance in deaths and other safety issues. Also CETP inhibitors from Roche and Eli Lilly and Co subsequently failed due to lack of sufficient efficacy.

Read further: Forbes, Reuters , CNBC