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Pfizer Says Lipitor Reduces Heart Attacks in Kidney Patients

Posted on: Thursday, 16 November 2006, 15:00 CST

A new analysis of Pfizer's best selling heart drug Lipitor has shown that patients with chronic kidney disease reduced their risk of heart attack, particularly when taking the drug at higher doses.

Results showed that patients who took Lipitor tablets at 80 mg reduced their risk of heart attack and stroke by 32% compared with patients taking the 10 mg dose of Lipitor.

The primary endpoint of the TNT (Treating to New Targets) study was the reduction of major cardiovascular events. The efficacy results in this analysis were primarily driven by reductions in heart attack and stroke. Patients defined as having chronic kidney disease at the beginning of the study experienced improvements in kidney function measurement with both Lipitor 10 mg and Lipitor 80 mg. Both doses of Lipitor were well tolerated.

"These findings show that more aggressive treatment with Lipitor in patients with kidney disease can help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke and improve measures of kidney function," said Dr James Shepherd, clinical academic consultant, department of pathological biochemistry, University of Glasgow Medical School.

"The analysis suggests the expected decline in kidney function that occurred over time could be arrested with Lipitor 10 mg and, in fact, was reversed with Lipitor 80 mg therapy. This study is the first to show this type of dose-dependent effect with Lipitor."

"Patients with chronic kidney disease often take multiple medications for other conditions, so drug-drug interactions or dosing adjustments are important clinical considerations for patients and physicians," said Dr Michael Berelowitz, senior vice president of Pfizer Worldwide Medical.

Source: Datamonitor

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