Reducing risks of coronary events

Pfizer has announced that atorvastatin calcium tablets (80 mg) reduced the risk of stroke, coronary heart disease events and major coronary events in type 2 diabetes patients who had no known coronary heart disease but who had experienced a recent stroke or mini-stroke.

This finding was from a new analysis of the landmark Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels (SPARCL) trial, and was presented at the 67th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the risk for stroke is two to four times higher among people with diabetes, and heart disease and stroke account for nearly two-thirds of deaths in people with diabetes.

“People with type 2 diabetes who have had a stroke are at a much higher risk of having a second stroke, a coronary heart disease event or revascularization procedure than people without type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Michael Welch, lead SPARCL investigator, neurologist and president of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

“In this analysis of patients with type 2 diabetes with no known coronary heart disease, we found atorvastatin calcium to be effective in reducing these risks,” Welch said.

In this pre-specified analysis (n=794), atorvastatin calcium reduced the risk of stroke by 30 percent, and coronary heart disease events and major coronary events by 51 percent, compared with placebo.

Coronary heart disease events include cardiac death, heart attack, resuscitated cardiac arrest, unstable chest pain, revascularization, or chest pain requiring emergency hospitalization. Major coronary events include cardiac death, heart attack or resuscitated cardiac arrest.

An additional analysis evaluated 781 patients in the SPARCL trial who were classified as having metabolic syndrome and who had a recent stroke or mini-stroke but no known coronary heart disease.

In these patients, atorvastatin calcium significantly reduced the risk of coronary heart disease events by 43 percent compared with those taking placebo.

The risk of stroke was reduced by 12 percent and major coronary events by 26 percent, but these results were not statistically significant.

Atorvastatin calcium is the most extensively studied and most prescribed cholesterol-lowering therapy in the world, with nearly 133 million patient-years of experience. 

It is supported by an extensive clinical trial program involving more than 400 ongoing and completed trials with more than 80,000 patients.