Another limitation of the study was that fenofibrate was used on top of a statin. I wonder what would have happened if it had been used alone, in statin-intolerant patients. Another issue is whether the average 4.7 years of follow-up in the study was long enough. Because the drug works via relatively weak risk factors like triglycerides and HDL cholesterol, perhaps the follow-up was too brief.
The study results clearly show no benefit from fenofibrate for all high-risk patients with diabetes. The results particularly indicated no benefit in women.
Further studies should be done to address these issues.