GP SUCCESS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CHOLESTEROL

Cholesterol Management Strategy Success in More than 10,000 Patients

London, UK (9th October 2006) – Real life data from over 100 GP practices (over 10,000 patients) across the UK presented this week has shown that the majority of patients previously not reaching cholesterol targets can achieve their goal with a simple, cost-effective treatment strategy. 

The results, presented at the weekend, at the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society meeting, show that 81% of patients treated with Crestor (rosuvastatin) 10mg achieve the UK General Medical Services (GMS) target cholesterol level.¹ Importantly, the majority of patients achieved the GMS target cholesterol level with rosuvastatin 10mg even when they had failed to do so when previously treated with higher doses of other statins including atorvastatin and simvastatin.¹

The NICE guidance on the use of statins for the prevention of cardiovascular events, published in January 2006 advises that statin therapy should usually be initiated with a drug with a low acquisition cost (taking into account required daily dose and product price per dose)². This new data is key as it demonstrates what can be achieved by GPs in real life practice with a more effective second line statin if cholesterol targets cannot be achieved using generic simvastatin.

Dr George Kassianos, GP, Bracknell , and steering group chair for the study commented:  “These results tell us GPs what we need to know. Following NICE recommendations, the emphasis is on cost-effective strategies for cholesterol management in the NHS setting. Simvastatin is the first-line treatment for the majority of patients, but what do we do if patients do not achieve cholesterol targets with simvastatin?  This GP practice data from across the country goes beyond clinical trials to show what we can actually achieve in real life practice when using the next most cost-effective statin, rosuvastatin10mg ‘second-line’.”

Success for UK GPs: Key findings from the Clinical Effectiveness Review Programme

·       82% patients new to statin treatment achieved the GMS cholesterol target with rosuvastatin 10mg¹

·       78% of patients switched from another statin treatment to rosuvastatin 10mg achieved the GMS cholesterol target compared to 34% on their prior statin treatment¹ 

·       68% of patients who failed to reach the GMS target on simvastatin 40mg, reached target when treated with rosuvastatin 10mg¹

·       70% of patients who failed to reach the GMS target on atorvastatin 10mg and 60% of patients who failed to reach the GMS target on atorvastatin 20mg reached target when treated with rosuvastatin 10mg¹ 

·       60% of patients achieved the European Atherosclerosis (EAS) target of less than 4.5 mmol/L total cholesterol when treated with rosuvastatin compared to 10% who achieved the EAS target before Crestor treatment³

·       A greater proportion of patients achieved the Joint British Society (JSB II) goal of < 4 mmol/L total cholesterol and the LDL-C goal of < 2 mmol/L with rosuvastatin 10mg compared to before rosuvastatin treatment³

Something to feel proud of:

Dr Andrea Tree, GP, Merseyside, and contributor to the study commented: “These results demonstrate GPs all across the country are striving for and achieving best practice, getting even the most challenging patients to target-something to be proud of. It shows that treatment with low doses of rosuvastatin can help the majority of even the most difficult to treat patients achieve target cholesterol levels”

Dr Marc Evans, Consultant Diabetologist, Wales and contributor to the study, added: “It is of absolute importance that at the very least patients are reaching the cholesterol goals set out in the GMS and in fact we now should start to strive for the newer evidence based targets of JBS. The results seen in this study are consistent with those we have seen in randomised controlled trials and adds to the weight of evidence supporting the use of rosuvastatin in patients who have failed to reach target on simvastatin.”

A recent paper in the British Journal of Cardiology noted rosuvastatin to produce the greatest increase of all the statins in quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and to be the most cost-effective statin available for patients not reaching targets with generic simvastatin.⁴

(12/10/06)