Cholesterol Drug Cuts Heart Risk

Data from a study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions demonstrated that Crestor (rosuvastatin calcium) reduced major cardiovascular (CV) events by 44% compared to placebo. It also reduced the combined risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke by 47%.

The results showed that patients taking rosuvastatin cut their risk of heart attack by more than half (54%), lowered their risk of stroke by 48%, and reduced their total mortality by 20%.

The study also revealed that patients with normal cholesterol levels, no heart disease, but with an elevated CRP were shown to benefit from treatment with rosuvastatin. In these patients, rosuvastatin resulted in a 50% reduction in LDL cholesterol which reduced stroke, heart attack and improved overall patient survival.

The Jupiter study was a long-term, large-scale study of 17,802 patients designed to determine if treatment with Crestor lowered the risk of heart attack, stroke and other major cardiovascular events in patients with low levels of “bad” cholesterol (or LDL-C), and raised levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP).