( ealthcare costs this analysis provides...)Lipitor Significantly Lowered Hospitalization Costs for Patients,with Heart Disease, Two New Analyses Show,Health

This new analysis of patients with acute coronary syndrome is consistent with the health economic findings of the overall IDEAL trial of 8,888 patients.

Additionally, in a separate analysis of a large U.S. managed care database that was recently presented, Lipitor patients achieved a significant additional 14 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events compared with patients taking simvastatin, even after adjustments for expected differences of LDL lowering based on dose.

"Together these analyses provide additional evidence for physicians who may be considering prescribing statins interchangeably using dose adjustments," said Dr Berelowitz.

About the Overall IDEAL Trial

IDEAL was an open-label trial of 8,888 patients who had had a previous heart attack comparing Lipitor 80 mg with simvastatin 20 mg-40 mg. There was an 11 percent reduction in the primary endpoint, major coronary events, in Lipitor patients compared to simvastatin patients, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. Based on a secondary endpoint, Lipitor reduced the risk of non-fatal heart attack by a significant 17 percent and the risk of any cardiovascular events by 16 percent compared with patients taking simvastatin 20 mg--40 mg.

In a subset of these patients (n=999) who had had a heart attack less than two months prior to entering the study, Lipitor 80 mg reduced the risk of heart attacks by 46 percent, major coronary events by 34 percent, and any cardiovascular event by 21 percent compared with simvastatin 20 mg--40 mg.

New Analysis of the Treating to New Targets (TNT) Trial

In a pre-specified analysis of more than 5,300 U.S. patient
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