‘Lipitor’ clinical trial awakens importance of dyslipidemia

Lipitor’s 25th anniversary… Ranked #1 in combined statin prescriptions for single and combination drugs
Cardiovascular disease prevention effect, abundant clinical data, ‘trust’ in medical staff
The key to treating dyslipidemia is ‘cardiovascular effects’… Contribute to the development of treatment strategies

“Lipitor has raised clinical awareness of the importance of treating dyslipidemia over the past 20 years and contributed to the development of treatment strategies.”

Viatris Korea held a press conference on the 24th to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the launch of ‘Lipitor’ (ingredient name: Atorvastatin), a dyslipidemia treatment drug, and looked back on the past times that led to the development of clinical usefulness and treatment strategies.

Lipitor, which was first launched in Korea in 1999, ranked first in terms of the total prescription volume of single and combination statins in Korea for 20 years from 2003, the fifth year since its launch, to last year (based on 2003-023, IQVIA), and is still used by 1 million domestic patients annually. It is being prescribed to patients.

First, Sripal Bungalow, a professor at New York University School of Medicine, USA, gave a presentation on ‘Evidence-based treatment strategies for dyslipidemia.’

Professor Bungalow said, “LDL-C is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the number one cause of death in the world. Dyslipidemia, if not properly treated, can lead to heart diseases such as angina pectoris and myocardial infarction, so the clinical effectiveness of treatment is low. “In order to determine usefulness, it is important to set cardiovascular effect (CV outcome) as the primary endpoint,” he explained.

Lipitor has indications for primary and secondary prevention of dyslipidemia and coronary heart disease based on various clinical study data that confirmed its effect in preventing cardiovascular disease in the primary endpoint.

Some of these are used as the clinical basis for major guidelines by the US ACC/AHA (2018, 2019), the European ESC/EAS (2019), and the Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (2022).

Professor Bungalow particularly paid attention to the Lipitor clinical study targeting Korean dyslipidemia patients.

The AMADEUS study, conducted on 440 Korean patients with type 2 diabetes, started with Lipitor at 10 mg (n = 185), 20 mg (n = 181), and 40 mg (n = 74) depending on the patients’ baseline LDL-C level. The treatment was conducted differently, and if LDL-C did not reach 100 mg/dL after 4 weeks, the dose was doubled. At the 8th week of administration, most patients (91%) reached the target LDL-C level of 100 mg/dL, and the larger the initial Lipitor dose, the greater the reduction in LDL-C.

In the AT-GOAL study conducted on 425 domestic dyslipidemia patients, the starting dose of Lipitor treatment was administered differently (10mg, 20mg, 40mg/day) depending on the patient’s condition, such as LDL-C level and cardiovascular disease risk, and the result was 81.9% in patients. % reached the target LDL-C level within 4 weeks of starting treatment, and 86.0% reached the 8th week.

Professor Bungalow said, “The achievement of Lipitor in the 25 years since its launch is that it recognized the importance of dyslipidemia treatment in clinical practice and contributed to the development of treatment strategies to date.” He added, “Lipitor will continue to play a big role in the clinical field, and in Korea as well. “The prevalence of lipidemia is increasing, and we look forward to research on various therapeutic approaches, including Lipitor, and advancements in the field of treatment,” he said.

Lim Hyeon-jeong, Executive Director (Marketing Manager) of Beatrice Korea, looked back on Lipitor’s 25 years of footsteps and achievements.

Executive Director Lim Hyun-jeong said, “Lipitor has 330 million patient-years of clinical experience around the world through various clinical studies over the past 25 years since its launch, and has strived to provide high-quality medicines to patients with dyslipidemia. “Based on the continued trust of patients and medical staff and the clinical usefulness confirmed in actual clinical trials, Lipitor continues to be one of the first-line treatments for dyslipidemia, even after 25 years since its launch. Together, we will provide treatment options to patients and medical staff based on various domestic and international dyslipidemia treatment guidelines, and Viatris Korea will continue to strive to contribute to domestic dyslipidemia treatment and chronic disease management.”

Following Lipitor, Viatris Korea is expanding the Lipitor family by launching Lipitor Plus tablets (ingredient names: atorvastatin, ezetimibe) containing ezetimibe in 2021 and providing various treatment options to domestic patients and medical staff.

Efforts are also being made to increase accessibility to information on domestic chronic disease treatments. While working to raise disease awareness by signing business agreements with various organizations, we are also carrying out social contribution activities to improve understanding of chronic diseases among underprivileged groups such as seniors living alone.

Bill Schuster, CEO of Viatris Korea, said, “I feel a sense of responsibility and pride that Lipitor is prescribed to approximately 1 million patients annually in Korea and is gaining the trust of medical staff as one of the treatments for dyslipidemia.” He added, “The medical staff has shown unwavering trust for 25 years. We would like to express our gratitude to our patients and to repay them, as a company that helps patients live healthier lives at all stages of their lives, Beatrice Korea will strive to improve the dyslipidemia treatment environment and raise awareness of the disease.” reported.

Copyright © Korea Medical Association Newspaper. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited.