Heart disease patients who were at a very high risk for having a second heart attack and took Lipitor had a 46% reduction in the risk of a heart attack compared with patients taking simvastatin.
Patients who took Lipitor in the study also had a 34% reduction in the risk of experiencing major coronary events, which included heart attack, cardiac death and cardiac arrest, compared with patients who took simvastatin. Lipitor also significantly reduced the risk of death, stroke, unstable angina and revascularization. The drug safety profiles were similar between the two groups.
“Lipitor is the only statin to show a significant benefit in these very high risk heart disease patients, and has demonstrated greater benefits than both simvastatin and pravastatin in clinical trials studying these patients,” said Dr Joseph Feczko, Pfizer’s chief medical officer.
Since the introduction of Lipitor more than nine years ago, its safety and effectiveness have been supported through an extensive clinical trial program with more than 400 ongoing and completed trials involving more than 80,000 patients. Lipitor is the most prescribed cholesterol-lowering therapy in the world, with 121 million patients.
Worldwide, heart disease is responsible for seven million deaths annually. It is the single largest killer of Americans, causing one out of every five deaths. An estimated 865,000 people suffer a new or recurrent heart attack each year, according to data from the American Heart Association.