Warner-Lambert Study Shows Lowest Cholesterol Helps Heart Most
Bloomberg News
March 8, 1999, 9:42 a.m. ET
Warner-Lambert Study Shows Lowest Cholesterol Helps Heart Most
New Orleans, March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Warner-Lambert Co. and
Pfizer Inc.'s top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor appeared to
prevent more heart problems in patients whose cholesterol was
lowered the most, according to a new analysis of a large study.
The study, known as AVERT, was first presented at a heart
meeting in Dallas, and showed Lipitor could reduce heart
complications when compared to angioplasty. Patients
who got angioplasty, however, had a greater improvement in
symptoms such as chest pain.
Researchers presented data today showing that patients who
didn't experience heart problems caused by restricted blood flow
-- such as chest pain, a heart attack or need for an emergency
procedure -- had had their ''bad'' cholesterol lowered by an
average of 47 percent. Those patients who did have such problems
-- known as ischemic events -- had had their levels of ''bad''
cholesterol dropped by only 35 percent on average.
The analysis ''indicated a relationship between effective
reductions in LDL (bad) cholesterol and reductions in ischemic
events,'' said Virgil Brown, a professor at the Emory University
school of medicine. The reduction in events was directly linked
to the bad kind of cholesterol and not effected by other
variables in the study, he said.
The data was presented today at the annual conference of the
American College of Cardiology being held this week in New
Orleans.
Warner-Lambert shares rose 1/2 to 69 1/8 in early trading.
The subgroup examined in today's analysis was made up of 164
patients who received more aggressive cholesterol lowering
therapy. The AVERT study included 341 patients overall.
The study is part of Morris Plains, New Jersey-based Warner-
Lambert's strategy to boost sales of top-selling Lipitor.
Introduced in 1997, Lipitor made Warner-Lambert one of the
world's most profitable drugmakers.
Angioplasty Candidates
The data linking lower levels of bad cholesterol with better
patient health could aid Warner-Lambert's and Pfizer's efforts to
further establish the importance of aggressive treatment for high
blood lipids. The study is the first in a series of trials
including a study geared to look at whether there is added
benefit to lowering bad cholesterol to much lower levels than are
currently recommended, officials said. Another study will look at
whether therapy with Lipitor can lower the risk of stroke.
Lipitor, which Warner-Lambert co-markets with New York-based
Pfizer, is part of a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as
statins. Merck & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Novartis AG
sell other members of the hot drug class.
The AVERT study included heart patients with at least one
diseased artery who doctors would consider candidates for
angioplasty. Patients were randomly assigned to either receive
Lipitor or undergo angioplasty.
In about one-third of the angioplasty patients, doctors also
implanted stents, tiny devices used to prop open arteries. Boston
Scientific, Guidant Corp. and Arterial Vascular Engineering Inc.
are the top makers of stents, which are expected to generate
sales topping $1 billion in the U.S. this year.
After 18 months, 87 percent of the patients assigned to
Lipitor were doing fine on the medicine and didn't require
angioplasty. Patients on Lipitor also had a 36 percent reduction
in a measure of heart complications, mainly by requiring fewer
hospitalizations and having less need for further procedures
including bypass surgery.
Critics of the study have pointed out that the patients in
the AVERT trial were likely to be the least sick patients,
because patients who were seriously ill would be given an
angioplasty right away.
--Kristin Reed in New Orleans with reporting by Kristin Jensen
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