Study Reconfirms Crestor Artery Plaque Regression

March 31, 2008— -- CHICAGO, March 31 (Reuters) - A new look at a two-year-oldstudy of AstraZeneca Plc's potent Crestor cholesterol fighterbolsters earlier findings that the drug is able to reversebuildup of plaque in heart arteries, researchers said onMonday.

The finding, which was presented at the American College ofCardiology scientific meeting, reconfirmed the previous resultwhile underscoring the message that "lower is better" when itcomes to levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol. It also suggests thathigher levels of "good" HDL cholesterol can help keep arteriesclear of artery-clogging fats.

"It probably reinforces the thought we should be loweringLDL cholesterol very intensively," Dr. Christie Ballantyne, aBaylor College cardiologist who was lead investigator for thestudy, said in an interview.

"It's not a new message, but it's an important message," hesaid.

Crestor, which cut LDL by an average of 53 percent in theso-called Asteroid study, is considered among the most potentof the widely used statin class of cholesterol fighters. Itsbiggest rivals are Pfizer Inc's Lipitor and Vytorin, acombination drug sold by Schering-Plough Corp and Merck and Co.

While other drugs have been shown to prevent heart attacksand stroke, the Asteroid study made headlines in 2006, whenCrestor became the first drug to actually reduce artery plaquein a clinical trial.

Ballantyne said no trials have been completed that proveplaque regression saves lives, but he suggested that such aconclusion makes sense.

"If the rate of progression is less than zero, that shouldbe a good thing," he said.

Highly favorable initial findings of the trial had shownplaque was reduced 7 to 9 percent in heart arteries asmeasured by a relatively new intravenous ultrasound technologycalled IVUS that looked a fat build-up in the arterial wall.

The latest evaluation, however, employed an older andwidely used technology called Quantitative CoronaryAngiography, in which a dye is introduced into arteries,allowing doctors to measure narrowing of the blood vessels.

Clogging in at least 94 percent of patients taking Crestorremained stable, or regressed, during the two-year study,according to measurements used to assess blockages.

"The area of greatest narrowing got bigger," Ballantynesaid, referring to diminished plaque in the vessels.

He noted that the earlier IVUS measurements focused onindividual arteries that were than less than 50 percentclogged, whereas the new measurements focused on the entirecomplex of heart arteries, regardless of level of clogging.

The trial included 507 patients with heart disease who tookmaximum 40-milligram daily doses of Crestor for two years.

The average patient began the study with "bad" cholesterolof 132, which was slashed by 53.3 percent to 61 by the end ofthe study. Levels of HDL, the "good" form of cholesterol thatremoves excess LDL from the bloodstream, increased by almost 14percent to 48.

REUTERS