European Atherosclerosis Society--75th congress

The 75th European Atherosclerosis Society congress, held in Prague, Czech Republic, at the end of April 2005, was a large, well-attended meeting of international scientists with specialist interest in the field of cardiovascular diseases. Few new drugs emerged at the meeting as treatment options for cardiovascular diseases, however, many interesting basic and clinical data were presented that will eventually lead to better and improved cardiovascular therapies. This report is focused on recent advances in statin therapy (the TNT study and the role of pharmacogenetics in predicting individual response to statin therapy); clinical evidence of the combination therapy of ezetimibe + simvastatin; phase III clinical data on the selective cannabinoid type I receptor blocker rimonabant (sanofi-aventis); the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor a agonists in the treatment of the metabolic syndrome; and the rationale for, and the recent advances in high-density lipoprotein-targeted therapy.