Lipitor reduces heart attacks and strokes in study patients with diabetes.

2004 JUL 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pfizer Inc's cholesterol-lowering medicine, Lipitor, significantly reduced heart attacks and strokes in patients with diabetes, according to data presented from the largest study specifically designed to study a statin in this patient population.

Results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

In the Collaborative Atorvastatin Diabetes Study (CARDS), which involved more than 2,800 patients with type-2 diabetes, no history of heart disease, and relatively-low levels of cholesterol, patients who took Lipitor had a 37% reduction in major cardiovascular events, which included heart attacks, stroke, chest pain that required hospitalization, cardiac resuscitation, and coronary revascularization procedures.

In addition, 48% fewer Lipitor-treated patients experienced strokes compared to those who received placebo, and the overall mortality rate for Lipitor patients was 27% lower than for those on placebo.

The CARDS study was stopped nearly 2 years earlier than planned because of the significant benefits among patients who took Lipitor compared with those who received placebo.

CARDS, which was initiated in the United Kingdom and Ireland, is a collaboration between Pfizer, University College London, Diabetes U.K., and the U.K. Department of Health.

The CARDS study was the second landmark Lipitor study to end early due to a significant cardiovascular benefit seen in patients. The Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial Lipid Lowering Arm (ASCOT-LLA) was the first Lipitor study to end early due to a significant benefit in hypertensive patients with normal or mildly elevated cholesterol levels.