CRESTOR™ TAKES LEAD IN INTERNATIONAL STUDY OF STATIN TREATMENT FOR PATIENTS WITH THE METABOLIC SYNDROME

The results from the COMETS study, involving nearly 400 patients with the metabolic syndrome and raised LDL-C, show:

• at a low dose of 10 mg, CRESTOR reduces LDL-C significantly more than atorvastatin 10mg
• CRESTOR 10mg increases HDL-C by nearly double that of atorvastatin 10mg
• CRESTOR 20mg reduces LDL-C significantly more than atorvastatin 20mg
• CRESTOR 20mg increases HDL-C significantly more than atorvastatin 20mg.

The need for effective treatment of abnormal lipid levels is becoming increasingly important for people with the metabolic syndrome as they are nearly twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease and their risk of heart attack and stroke is threefold. The condition is very common, with nearly one in five men and nearly one in four women affected, and prevalence is expected to increase due to a rise in obesity and an ageing population. The term metabolic syndrome describes a cluster of three or more heart disease risk factors, including abdominal obesity, low levels of HDL-C, increased levels of triglycerides (another type of fat found in the blood), raised blood pressure and raised blood glucose. Reducing high levels of LDL-C is recommended in international treatment guidelines as one of the primary treatment targets for people with the metabolic syndrome. Sub-group analyses of long-term studies have also shown that statin treatment in people with the metabolic syndrome can reduce cardiovascular events.

Professor Stalenhoef of University Medical Centre Nijmegen, said, “The rising number of people with the metabolic syndrome has serious implications across the globe for cardiovascular disease, now and in the future. Results from this study show that CRESTOR is an effective medication for this ‘high risk’ patient group, offering significant benefits by correcting abnormal lipid levels, both lowering bad cholesterol and raising good cholesterol.”

Results in a group of patients with type 2 diabetes from the MERCURY I study were also presented at the congress, showing that CRESTOR 10mg reduces LDL-C in patients with type 2 diabetes and dyslipidaemia significantly more than atorvastatin at the same dose, and increases HDL-C levels. People with type 2 diabetes are three times more likely to die from a heart attack or stroke than people without diabetes with the same cholesterol level, and up to 80 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes die from cardiovascular disease. Recent large-scale study results have shown that intensive statin therapy can lead to a significant reduction in heart disease deaths in people with type 2 diabetes.

Commenting on the results, Professor Schuster of Humboldt University Berlin, lead investigator of MERCURY I explains, “Intensively reducing LDL-C in high risk patients is becoming an increasingly important treatment strategy in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes. These results show that a low dose of CRESTOR can significantly bring down LDL-C levels, therefore offering patients with type 2 diabetes an important and highly effective treatment option.”

CRESTOR has now received regulatory approvals in more than 60 countries across five continents and has been launched in over 45 countries worldwide, including 13 European markets, the US and Canada. Over 2.8 million patients have been prescribed CRESTOR and more than 8 million prescriptions have been written worldwide. The post-marketing experience supports the favourable benefit:risk profile of CRESTOR and confirms that the safety profile is comparable to other currently marketed statins. CRESTOR 10mg is the usual recommended start dose for patients new to statin treatment and also for those switching to CRESTOR from other statins regardless of prior dose.

Further enquiries to:

Media Enquiries:
Steve Brown, +44 207 304 5033
Edel McCaffrey, ++44 207 304 5034

Investor Enquiries:
Mina Blair-Robinson, +44 207 304 5084
Jonathan Hunt, +44 207 304 5087





· The GALAXY Programme is a large, comprehensive, long-term, and evolving global research initiative sponsored by AstraZeneca to investigate cardiovascular risk reduction and patient outcomes with CRESTOR. Please refer to the GALAXY media backgrounders for more information on the GALAXY Programme and each of the individual GALAXY Programme studies.

· The term ‘the metabolic syndrome’ is used to describe a number of risk factors for cardiovascular disease that are clustered together in some people. Each risk factor alone conveys increased cardiovascular disease risk but, in combination, they enhance the patients’ risk of heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and death.

· AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of over $18.8 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience and respiratory products. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global and European) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.

· AstraZeneca has more than 40 years experience in cardiovascular medicine and aims to increase lifespan and improve quality of life by reducing the risk, prevalence and impact of cardiovascular disease. AstraZeneca has a comprehensive cardiovascular portfolio including CRESTORTM, ATACANDTM, ZESTRILTM, TENORMINTM, SELOKEN ZOK /TOPROL-XLTM and PLENDILTM. This heritage is complemented by an innovative pipeline including the first oral direct thrombin inhibitor, EXANTATM, and a novel treatment for type 2 diabetes / metabolic syndrome, GALIDATM.