VYTORIN the cholesterol-lowering medicine from Merck

In a new investigational study of VYTORIN, the cholesterol-lowering medicine from Merck (known as MSD outside the US and Canada), VYTORIN 10/20 mg reduced the incidence of first major vascular events — defined as non-fatal heart attacks or cardiac death, stroke or any revascularization procedure — by a highly statistically significant 16.1 percent compared to placebo (p=0.0010). The SHARP (Study of Heart and Renal Protection) study involved more than 9,000 patients who, on average, had advanced or end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD), and is the first prospective clinical study in patients with CKD to demonstrate the benefit of lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol on major vascular events. The results were presented today during Renal Week, the American Society of Nephrology’s annual meeting, by Professor Colin Baigent, F.F.P.H., F.R.C.P., and Dr. Martin Landray, Ph.D., F.R.C.P., the principal investigators of SHARP, from the Oxford University Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU), Oxford, England.

Dr. Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., president, Merck Research Laboratories said, This is an important study, Patients with CKD have a high risk of ischemic vascular disease and increased rates of heart attack, stroke, other cardiovascular events and revascularization procedures. In SHARP, the investigational use of VYTORIN significantly reduced the risk of these events in a spectrum of patients with chronic kidney disease — and this was the first demonstration that an LDL-cholesterol lowering medicine could do so.