NEW DATA PRESENTED FOR REDUCING
BAD CHOLESTEROL IN AFRICAN AMERICANS

(AANEWSWIRE)New Orleans----New data presented at the American Heart Association's Annual Scientific Sessions focused on a new medication for reducing "bad" cholesterol in African Americans.

Dr. Keith C. Ferdinand, an African American clinical cardiologist and medical director of the Heartbeats Life Center in New Orleans, was the lead investigator for a first-ever large-scale, Prospective Study in African Americans with High Cholesterol Levels.

Dr. Ferdinand said, "As an African American physician who treats a large number of African American patients, the ARIES (African American Rosuvastatin Investigation of Efficacy and Safety) trial represents an opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of statins in this high-risk, undertreaed and underserved population. ARIES is the first trial to demonstrate superiority in lowering LDL-cholesterol (bad cholesterol) in this (the African American) population using rosuvastatin (CRESTOR) compared to atorvastatin, comparing equal doses of each."

ARIES is a six-week, randomized, controlled, open-label, multi-center trial designed to evaluate the efficacy of CRESTOR and atorvastatin in African Americans with elevated cholesterol.

After a six-week dietary lead-in, 774 African American adults with hypercholesterollemia were randomized to one of four open-label treatments for six weeks: CRESTOR 10 or 20 mg or atorvastatin 10 or 20 mg. Results showed CRESTOR 10 and 20 mg reduced LDL-c (bad cholesterol) by 37 and 46 percent respectively compared with 32 and 39 percent for atorvastatin at the same dosages.

The data showed that 66 and 79 percent of the patients treated with CRESTOR 10 and 20 mg respectively reached their NCEP ATP III cholesterol goals compared to 58 and 62 percent for patients treated with atorvastatin 10 and 20 mg respectively.

According to the American Heart Association, approximately 42 percent of the African American population has high cholesterol, and an estimated 45 percent has elevated LDL-C levels.

Additionally, according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's Risk Fact Surveillance System (BRFSS), an estimated 26 percent of the African American population has never had their cholesterol levels checked.

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