Review of efficacy of rosuvastatin 5 mg

The prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) has been increasing in the past few decades in Japan, as it has in industrialised countries worldwide. CHD risk can be substantially reduced by lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in patients with dyslipidaemia. Statins are highly effective for this indication, but many patients treated with these drugs still do not meet their treatment goals, often because clinicians fail to titrate these patients to a higher, potentially more effective, dose. Thus, there is a need for more effective agents that can help patients reach their goals at starting doses. This paper reviews key clinical results for a new agent, rosuvastatin. The data show that rosuvastatin 5 mg is highly effective in lowering LDL-C to recommended levels for most patients (mean reductions ranging from 42 to 52%). In addition, rosuvastatin 5 mg effectively lowers triglycerides (−16%), total cholesterol (−30%), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C; −38%) and apolipoprotein (apo) B levels (−33%) and increases HDL-C (+8.2–13%) in a wide range of patients with hypercholesterolaemia, including the elderly, obese patients, postmenopausal women and patients with hypertension, CHD, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The 5-mg dose of rosuvastatin dose also produces greater reductions in LDL-C and larger increases in HDL-C than recommended initial doses of atorvastatin, simvastatin or pravastatin (for LDL-C reductions, p < 0.001 vs. atorvastatin 10 mg, simvastatin 20 mg and pravastatin 20 mg; for HDL-C elevations, p < 0.01 vs. atorvastatin 10 mg). These results demonstrate that rosuvastatin 5 mg produces favourable effects on the lipid profile and helps more patients achieve LDL-C goals than comparator statins.