"A breakthrough drug can slash levels of bad cholesterol by half without the side effects of statins," the Daily Mail reports. Statins are a class of drug used to reduce high cholesterol levels, they are often given to people thought to be at risk of heart disease or stroke. A complaint from some people who take statins is that they seem to trigger muscle pains and spasms. In some cases, these side effects are so troublesome that a person stops taking the drug all together.