Data Presented at the European Atherosclerosis Society Congress Reinforces the Differentiating Benefits of CRESTOR[TM] in Comparison to Atorvastatin and Simvastatin

LONDON, May 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

THIS RELEASE IS INTENDED EXCLUSIVELY FOR EUROPEAN MEDIA

Data presented today from the VOYAGER study demonstrate the benefits of aggressive statin therapy with CRESTOR™ (rosuvastatin) in comparison to atorvastatin and simvastatin in high risk patients. VOYAGER is an individual patient data meta-analysis of 32 258 patients from 37 randomised studies, comparing the effects of statin therapy with CRESTOR™ (rosuvastatin) to that of atorvastatin and simvastatin. These data are being presented at the 2012 European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) Congress in Milan, Italy.

The data suggests that achieving an LDL-C goal of <70 mg/dL or >50% reduction in LDL-C levels in high risk patients requires aggressive statin therapy. As statin dose increased, a higher percentage of patients achieved these goals, which reflect the latest European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) and European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for the Management of Dyslipidaemias. Also, a greater percentage of patients achieved this goal with CRESTOR than with equal or double doses of atorvastatin or simvastatin.

"The VOYAGER analyses being presented at EAS provide further evidence of the efficacy of CRESTOR in helping high risk patients reach recommended target lipid levels, as compared with atorvastatin and simvastatin," said Russ Esterline, VP Global Product Development Cardiovascular, AstraZeneca. "CRESTOR consistently and significantly increases HDL-C and helps patients get to target LDL-C goals of less than 70 mg/dL."

Other VOYAGER data presented at the EAS congress include:

• Impact of increasing statin dose on the ratio of non-HDL-C to HDL-C: results from the VOYAGER individual patient data meta-analysis
  • Data shows that increasing statin dose has a favourable impact on non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratio; these results support the use of higher doses of effective statins to reduce this cardiovascular (CV) risk marker
• No relationship between changes in atherogenic lipid parameters and CRP with statin use in VOYAGER: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction
  • This analysis found no clinically meaningful relationship between changes in LDL-C and baseline or change in hsCRP with intensive statin treatment, suggesting that any CV benefit associated with hsCRP reduction may reflect statin effects beyond their ability to reduce atherogenic lipid levels

As evidenced by the results of these analyses, VOYAGER data continues to demonstrate the benefits of aggressive statin therapy for the reduction of cardiovascular risk. The safety and tolerability of all statins used in VOYAGER were in line with the experience from previous studies.

CRESTOR has been researched extensively for over 13 years, including 120 clinical trials of more than 67,000 patients worldwide from more than 55 countries.

NOTES TO EDITORS

VOYAGER (An indiVidual patient data meta-analysis Of statin therapY in At risk Groups: Effects of Rosuvastatin, atorvastatin and simvastatin) is an individual patient data meta-analysis of 32 258 patients from 37 randomised studies comparing the lipid modifying effects of rosuvastatin with that of atorvastatin and simvastatin. The patients include almost 9,000 with diabetes and over 15,000 with atherosclerotic disease.

CRESTOR has now received regulatory approvals in over 109 countries. Worldwide, doctors have written nearly 330 million prescriptions for CRESTOR. Data from clinical trials and real world use shows that the safety profile for rosuvastatin is in line with that of other marketed statins.

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business with a primary focus on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation, oncology and infectious disease. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. For more information please visit: http://www.astrazeneca.com.

SOURCE AstraZeneca