Merck & Co's LDL-lowering drug Vytorin meets study endpoints

Pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) has announced that the study investigating LDL-cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) – which combines simvastatin with the non-statin Zetia (ezetimibe) – has met its primary and secondary endpoints.

In the 18,144-patient IMPROVE-IT study, patients taking Vytorin experienced significantly fewer major cardiovascular events (as measured by a composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, re-hospitalization for unstable angina or coronary revascularization occurring at least 30 days after randomization) than patients treated with simvastatin alone.

IMPROVE-IT was designed to address whether lowering LDL-cholesterol to well under 70mg/dL by adding ezetimibe to a statin further reduced cardiovascular events. This is because high-risk patients treated with statins, including those on treatment with low levels of LDL-cholesterol, continue to be at increased cardiovascular risk.