Intensive Lipitor therapy cuts CV risk in CAD patients

Compared to 20mg-40mg therapy with Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin), intensive atorvastatin therapy with 80mg of the drug significantly reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events, including CV-related death and non-fatal heart attacks, by 40% in patients with end-stage coronary artery disease who have already suffered an acute heart attack, according to data from a 290-patient trial presented at the 2008 European Society of Cardiology Congress, held in Munich, Germany.

"Patients with end-stage coronary artery disease who have already suffered a first heart attack have a very high risk of either dying or suffering another heart attack or stroke. These patients are particularly difficult to treat, as their coronary arteries are so extensively damaged that they cannot be treated with surgery or angioplasty," said Furio Colivicchi, lead study author. "Based on these results, high-dose atorvastatin therapy provides physicians with a safe yet significantly more effective treatment option for these patients," he added.

Also at the 2008 ESC Congress, an observational study was presented involving over 1,300 patients who have experienced acute coronary syndrome which showed that, within one year of release from the hospital, those who switched from intensive atorvastatin 80mg therapy to either another statin or lower dose atorvastatin were twice as likely to die or suffer a non-fatal heart attack as those who remained on atorvastatin 80mg.