A new statin: a new standard

In a 2-stage, placebo-controlled, Phase 2 dose-ranging trial evaluating the new statin rosuvastatin in men and postmenopausal women with hypercholesterolemia, the agent was found to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in a dose-related manner. With each doubling of the rosuvastatin dose (1, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 mg/day), there was an additional 4.5% reduction in LDL-C. Reductions in LDL-C were statistically significant across all doses and ranged from 35% to 65%. The latter percent reduction surpasses the maximal reductions reported for all other statins when used for monotherapy and suggests that rosuvastatin might enable more patients with hypercholesterolemia to achieve target LDL-C levels. Across all doses, the new statin also had favorable effects on other lipid parameters and was well tolerated, with the incidence of adverse events similar to placebo.