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'Lipitor' reduces heart attack risk, shows study

DUBAI - A landmark clinical study shows that Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor (atorvastatin) significantly reduces fatal and non-fatal heart attacks as well as strokes, it was announced by the pharmaceutical company.

Pfizer Inc. said in a Press conference organised by the Specialised Medical Media Establishment that patients with normal or mildly elevated cholesterol levels, who took the cholesterol-lowering medicine atorvastatin experienced 36 per cent fewer fatal coronary events and non-fatal heart attacks than those treated with placebo.

Patients treated with atorvastatin in the study known as the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT), also had 27 per cent reduction in fatal strokes as well as 21 per cent reduction in cardio-vascular events.

Professor Bjorn Dahlof of Sahlgrenska University, Gothenburg, Sweden said: "The results of this trial were achieved above and beyond aggressively treating high blood pressure in these patients. We have clearly found that by adding Lipitor to the blood pressure lowering therapy, more heart attacks and strokes can be prevented."

The study, which involved 19,342 patients with high blood pressure, was meant to determine whether newer blood pressure lowering medicines produce greater cardiovascular benefits than older therapies. More than half the patients -10,305 - that took part in the study received either atorvastatin or a placebo to determine whether cholesterol-lowering therapy could provide additional cardiovascular benefits.

Statistics show that between 35 and 50 per cent of patients with high blood pressure suffer from high cholesterol. Dr Joseph Feczko, Pfizer president, said: "ASCOT further supports the outstanding efficacy of atorvastatin and provides additional insight into the benefits of cholesterol-lowering therapy in a broad range of patients.