Lipitor appears to reduce risk of cardiovascular events compared with simvastatin

The patients in this study did not have evident cardiovascular disease and were newly initiated on either treatment. This study was performed in conjunction with HealthCore, WellPoint's health outcomes research subsidiary. Results of this study, from one of the largest U.S. managed care claims databases with more than 219,000 adult patients, were published in the December issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The study examined data for patients 18-64 years old who had no prior statin use or medical claims related to cardiovascular disease in the 12 months preceding initiation of statin therapy. The average doses in the study were 29 mg of simvastatin and 17 mg of Lipitor.

“Observational data such as this, which reflect the use of medicines in real-world clinical practice rather than in a controlled trial setting, may help healthcare providers and managed care companies improve clinical outcomes for patients,” said Terry A. Jacobson, Professor of Medicine, Emory University, and director of the Office of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Grady Health Systems. “The data suggests that statins with greater potency may result in greater cardiovascular risk reductions. Economic assessments should be performed to determine the potential impact of this study on cost of care to patients.”

In addition to the significant reduction in the risk of overall cardiovascular events, individual event rates of secondary endpoints, first heart attack and hospitalizations for heart failure, were significantly lower for patients initiating Lipitor compared with patients initiating simvastatin. There was no significant difference between the groups for the secondary endpoints of stroke, revascularization surgery or peripheral vascular disease.

“This latest analysis adds to the wealth of real-world data from a number of different medical database analyses that suggest that patients who are treated with Lipitor may have a reduced risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event compared with patients who use simvastatin,” said Dr. Michael Berelowitz, senior vice president of Pfizer's global medical division. “Findings such as these should be taken into account by those who may assume that medicines in a therapeutic class are interchangeable and provide similar outcomes.”

As with all observational studies, the study is subject to certain limitations and the findings should be regarded as hypothesis generating.

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