CRESTOR reduces major cardiovascular events in women by 46%

A new analysis of the JUPITER trial, released today at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, demonstrates that CRESTOR (rosuvastatin calcium) 20mg reduced first major cardiovascular events by 46%.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Canadian women and is no longer considered a "man's disease." In fact, women are more likely than men to die of a heart attack or stroke. Women are also ten times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than from any other disease and six times more likely to die from a heart attack or stroke than from breast cancer.(2)

"Until now, we've had limited information about the benefits of primary prevention in women," said Dr. Jacques Genest, Director, Cardiology Division, McGill University Health Centre. "The results of the JUPITER trial demonstrate that women can reduce their risk of cardiovascular events with effective treatments such as rosuvastatin 20mg."

Nearly one half of all cardiovascular events occur in people who are apparently healthy and who have low or normal levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a traditional indicator of cardiovascular risk.(3) hsCRP is a type of protein naturally produced in the body that is thought to be a marker of inflammation and increased risk of cardiovascular and other diseases.

Initial results from JUPITER, originally presented in November 2008 at the American Heart Association's Annual Scientific Sessions and published by the New England Journal of Medicine, showed rosuvastatin 20mg significantly reduced major cardiovascular (CV) events (combined risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, arterial revascularization, hospitalization for unstable angina, or death from CV causes) by 44% compared to placebo (p(less than)0.00001).(4) These results also showed that for patients in the trial taking rosuvastatin 20mg the combined risk of heart attack, stroke or CV death was reduced by nearly half (47%, p(less than)0.00001).(5)

There were 6,801 female participants (38.2% of the entire study population of 17,802) randomized to receive either rosuvastatin 20mg once daily or placebo.

CRESTOR is indicated as an adjunct to diet in the treatment of high cholesterol. The 40mg dose is the highest approved dose of CRESTOR. CRESTOR is not indicated for atherosclerosis or for the reduction of mortality and morbidity. CRESTOR should be used according to the prescribing information, which contains recommendations for initiating and titrating therapy according to the individual patient profile. In Canada, the recommended starting dose of CRESTOR in most patients is 10 mg orally once daily.

With over 160 million prescriptions written worldwide, CRESTOR has been prescribed to more than 15 million patients and has a safety profile in line with that of other marketed statins.