[Drug of the month. Rosuvastatin (Crestor)]

Rosuvastatin (Crestor) has been recently launched in Belgium by AstraZeneca. This new statin is indicated for the treatment of primary hypercholesterolaemia or combined dyslipidaemia, when changes in dietary habits are insufficient. Direct comparative randomised clinical trials with other statins demonstrated that rosuvastatin exerts a more favourable impact on lipid profile. When compared on a mg basis to other statins, rosuvastatin is associated with a greater reduction in total and LDL cholesterol levels and a greater increase of HDL cholesterol concentration, with a similar decrease in triglyceride levels. At the usual dosage of 10 mg, rosuvastatin allowed to reduce LDL cholesterol below recommended target levels for at risk patients among almost 80% of treated individuals in phase III clinical trials. If necessary, the daily dosage may be increased to 20 mg, or up to 40 mg (maximal dose), mostly in case of severe familial hypercholesterolaemia. Safety profile is good and similar to that of other commercialised statins. Rosuvastatin is currently evaluated in an extensive programme of randomised clinical trials (Galaxy programme) in order to demonstrate its efficacy in both prevention of atherosclerosis and reduction of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.