a 44 percent lowering of strokes, heart attacks and death from blocked arteries

Good news for the manufacturers of the cholesterol lowering drug Crestor is that the Food & Drug Administration advising panel has recommended that the labeling be changed to include individuals who do not necessarily suffer from high cholesterol.  AstraZeneca that makes Crestor would therefore be allowed to sell it to around an extra 6 million people in the US which could prevent as many as 50,000, strokes,  heart attacks and deaths every year.

Crestor, (rosuvastatin) is an extremely effective statin which prevents the production of harmful cholesterol in the human liver. This FDA advisory panel recommendation comes after studies have shown that Crestor could be also protecting individuals from a list of other illnesses such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts as well as reducing inflammation which leads to heart disease.

In one study done on almost 18,000 people Crestor was found to reduce the chances of death from heart disease by twenty percent and that there was a 44 percent lowering of strokes, heart attacks and death from blocked arteries. In fact AstraZeneca said that because the results were so good they terminated the study after 2 years rather than the expected 4 years and moved to get labeling change done as quickly as possible for Crestor.

Over $3.5 billion worth of Crestor was sold in 2008 and this number is likely to jump considerably if the FDA approves the labeling change. The FDA does not have to follow the recommendation put forward by their advisory panel but in most cases it does and there is no reason for them in this case to go against the recommendation.

Crestor is a prescription medication which is the latest offering from the online pharmacy Ukmedix. All medication at Ukmedix can be verified using the Pharmacheck System.