AstraZeneca's Crestor fails to show significant improvement over Lipitor

There was a big disappointment for Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) on Friday, when it revealed results of a new study that failed to show its drug Crestor (rosuvastatin) was a significant improvement over US behemoth Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) all-time blockbuster cholesterol lowerer Lipitor (atorvastatin), sending the London-headquartered firm’s down 3.5% to £28.13 by close of trading that day.

AstraZeneca announced top-line results from SATURN (Study of Coronary Atheroma by InTravascular Ultrasound: Effect of Rosuvastatin Versus AtorvastatiN), which was designed to measure the impact of Crestor 40mg and atorvastatin 80mg on the progression of atherosclerosis in high risk patients.

The results for the primary efficacy measure, which was change from baseline in percent atheroma volume (PAV) in a ≥40 mm segment of the targeted coronary artery as assessed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), demonstrated a numerically greater reduction in favor of Crestor versus atorvastatin but did not reach statistical significance. For the secondary IVUS measure, which was change from baseline in total atheroma volume (TAV) within the targeted coronary artery, Crestor demonstrated a statistically significant reduction compared with atorvastatin.