New data from the first international prospective study of statin treatment in people with the metabolic syndrome show that AstraZeneca's Crestor (rosuvastatin) achieves better results for this growing group of patients.

The results presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Munich, Germany, show that Crestor lowers LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C, or bad cholesterol) and raises HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C, or good cholesterol) significantly more than another commonly prescribed statin, atorvastatin, in patients with the metabolic syndrome and high cholesterol.

According to a company release, the results from the Comets study, involving nearly 400 patients with the metabolic syndrome and raised LDL-C, show- at a low dose of 10 mg, Crestor reduces LDL-C significantly more than atorvastatin 10mg; Crestor 10mg increases HDL-C by nearly double that of atorvastatin 10mg; Crestor 20mg reduces LDL-C significantly more than atorvastatin 20mg; Crestor 20mg increases HDL-C significantly more than atorvastatin 20mg.

Professor Stalenhoef of University Medical Centre Nijmegen, said, "The rising number of people with the metabolic syndrome has serious implications across the globe for cardiovascular disease, now and in the future. Results from this study show that Crestor is an effective medication for this 'high risk' patient group, offering significant benefits by correcting abnormal lipid levels, both lowering bad cholesterol and raising good cholesterol."

Results in a group of patients with type 2 diabetes from the Mercury I study were also presented at the congress, showing that Crestor 10mg reduces LDL-C in patients with type 2 diabetes and dyslipidaemia significantly more than atorvastatin at the same dose, and increases HDL-C levels. People with type 2 diabetes are three times more likely to die from a heart attack or stroke than people without diabetes with the same cholesterol level, and up to 80 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes die from cardiovascular disease. Recent large-scale study results have shown that intensive statin therapy can lead to a significant reduction in heart disease deaths in people with type 2 diabetes.

Commenting on the results, Professor Schuster of Humboldt University Berlin, lead investigator of Mercury I explains, "Intensively reducing LDL-C in high risk patients is becoming an increasingly important treatment strategy in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes. These results show that a low dose of Crestor can significantly bring down LDL-C levels, therefore offering patients with type 2 diabetes an important and highly effective treatment option."

Crestor has now received regulatory approvals in more than 60 countries across five continents and has been launched in over 45 countries worldwide, including 13 European markets, the US and Canada. Over 2.8 million patients have been prescribed Crestor and more than 8 million prescriptions have been written worldwide.