Merck and Schering-Plough have announced that, in a new analysis, Vytorin significantly reduced LDL, or 'bad,' cholesterol and C-reactive protein in patients with high cholesterol compared to Zocor.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
The analysis showed that Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) reduced LDL cholesterol by an average of 52.5% and C-reactive protein (CRP) by an average of 31%, compared to averages of 38% and 14.3% achieved with Zocor (simvastatin).
These results were observed in a combined post-hoc analysis of three studies involving patients with high cholesterol and were presented at the 55th annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology.
This post-hoc analysis pooled data from three similar randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind studies that included a total of 3,083 patients with primary hypercholesterolemia.
“In this analysis, while both treatments yielded LDL cholesterol and CRP reductions, we saw that Vytorin lowered LDL cholesterol and CRP by a significantly greater amount in more patients than Zocor,” noted Dr Christie Ballantyne, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Methodist DeBakey Heart Center in Texas.