Cholesterol News:

Study: Vytorin Beats Lipitor in Reducing Bad and Raising Good Cholesterol

The drug Vytorin may be better at reducing LDL or bad cholesterol and increasing HDL or good cholesterol than Lipitor, according to a study presented October 28 at the 15th International Symposium on Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism in Venice, Italy.

Recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Vytorin is the first and only product available to treat the two sources of cholesterol. The drug works by inhibiting the production of cholesterol in the liver and blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine, including cholesterol from food. The active ingredients in Vytorin are ezetimibe and simvastatin.

A study of 1,902 patients with high cholesterol showed that Vytorin, which is a combination of the drugs ezetimibe and simvastatin, provided greater reduction in LDL cholesterol compared to Lipitor, 51 percent to 36 percent at the most commonly used starting doses of 10/20 mg for Vytorin and 10 mg for Lipitor.

At these same starting doses in a subgroup of high risk patients with high cholesterol who were at risk of developing heart disease, 82 percent were able to achieve a goal of less than 100 mg/dL with Vytorin, compared to 47 percent for Lipitor.

"In this study, Vytorin was significantly more effective than Lipitor in reducing LDL cholesterol at all doses compared and for attaining LDL cholesterol treatment goals pooled across the dosing range," said lead researcher Christie Ballantyne, MD, of Methodist DeBakey Heart Center, Houston, Texas. "This study gives further support to the new option that Vytorin, which reduces both the production and the absorption of cholesterol, provides to physicians in the treatment of high LDL cholesterol."

Vytorin in higher doses also provided significantly greater increases in HDL cholesterol of 9 percent and 8 percent respectively as compared to the HDL cholesterol increase of 4 percent and 1.4 percent respectively seen in patients taking Lipitor in higher doses.

Researchers reported that both Vytorin and Lipitor were well tolerated among in the trial. In a joint venture, drug makers Merck and Schering-Plough developed and produce Vytorin. Pfizer produces Lipitor.

Source: Medical Week staff, week of November 6, 2004