Bad Cholesterol In Patients With Type II Diabetes Studied In Mayo Clinic Proceedings

Results from a clinical study conducted in 1,229 patients with type II diabetes mellitus and high cholesterol showed that VYTORIN® (ezetimibe/simvastatin) provided superior reduction in LDL "bad" cholesterol compared to Lipitor® (atorvastatin) at the dose comparisons studied, according to data published in the December 2006 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The primary efficacy endpoint was the percent change from baseline in LDL cholesterol at the end of the six-week treatment period.


VYTORIN, which contains ezetimibe and simvastatin, is the first and only product approved to treat the two sources of cholesterol by inhibiting the production of cholesterol in the liver and blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine, including cholesterol from food. VYTORIN is marketed as INEGY in many countries outside the U.S.


VYTORIN 10/20 mg demonstrated a 53.6 mean percent reduction from baseline in LDL cholesterol as compared to a 38.3 percent reduction observed with Lipitor 10 mg and a 44.6 percent reduction with Lipitor 20 mg - the recommended usual starting doses of both agents. At the next highest doses, VYTORIN 10/40 mg decreased LDL cholesterol significantly more than Lipitor 40 mg - 57.6 percent compared to 50.9 percent, respectively, (p

Additional results from the study demonstrated that VYTORIN (10/20 and 10/40 mg) increased HDL "good" cholesterol by 8.0 and 6.3 percent, respectively, as compared to the HDL increases of 4.3 (p