A study unveiled at the ACC today found that AstraZeneca’s cholesterol pill drug slowed thickening in the neck arteries of people at low risk for heart attacks and strokes, but failed to reverse thickening as researchers had hoped.

Thickening of arterial walls is a precursor to plaque buildup, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Crestor is approved primarily to reduce levels of bad cholesterol, but AstraZeneca hopes the FDA will approve the pill for reducing plaque buildup

On its own, the new Crestor study probably won’t support the wider use of Crestor and other statins by people at low risk for heart attacks and cardiovascular events. But further studies in this large population could support greater use.

Several industry analysts had suggested that a demonstration of plaque regression in the low-risk population would enable AstraZeneca to differentiate its drug from other cholesterol pills such as Vytorin, sold by Schering-Plough and Merck. In that case, results of AstraZeneca;s METEOR trial, are positive, but may also represent a missed opportunity.

Abstract of METEOR study;
AstraZeneca statement.

Source: Reuters and the Associated Press.[tags]AstraZeneca, Crestor[/tags]