Expanding options with a wider range of rosuvastatin doses

The dose range for rosuvastatin in Europe has recently been expanded to 5 to 40 mg and is now in line with the dose range currently available in the United States.

The goal of this article was to review the efficacy and safety data available for the rosuvastatin 5-mg dose and discuss these data in the context of the full 5- to 40-mg dose range.

Articles referring to clinical efficacy or safety data for the 5-mg dose of rosuvastatin were identified and reviewed after a search of the MEDLINE database (2000-August 2006; English language only) using the search term rosuvastatin. Proceedings from major cardiology congresses (2000-2006) were also searched for additional information.

Rosuvastatin 5 mg is significantly (P < 0.001) more effective at reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol (42% and 30%) levels compared with atorvastatin 10 mg (36% and 27%), simvastatin 20 mg (36% and 25%), and pravastatin 20 mg (27% and 19%). Rosuvastatin 5 mg allows significantly more patients to reach their LDL-C goals as recommended by the 2003 European guidelines and the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) (49%-52% and 67%-71%) than atorvastatin 10 mg (36%, P < 0.001; 53%, P < 0.01), simvastatin 20 mg (37%, P < 0.001; 64%, P < 0.05), and pravastatin 20 mg (12%, P < 0.001; 49%, P < 0.001). Rosuvastatin is well tolerated across the 5- to 40-mg dose range, with a type and incidence of adverse events similar to the other commonly available, but less effective, statins. The introduction of a 5-mg dose offers greater flexibility to prescribing physicians in that it provides an additional dosing option for those patients who are at a lower cardiovascular risk or who have an increased potential for developing myopathy with statin therapy.

Rosuvastatin 5 mg is well tolerated and has beneficial effects across the atherogenic lipid profile by reducing LDL-C and total cholesterol, raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and helping a greater proportion of patients reach their LDL-C goals.