31st Mar 2008 07:02
AstraZeneca PLC31 March 2008 CRESTOR OUTCOMES STUDY JUPITER CLOSES EARLY DUE TO UNEQUIVOCAL EVIDENCE OFBENEFIT AstraZeneca today announced it has decided to stop the CRESTOR JUPITER clinicalstudy early based on a recommendation from an Independent Data Monitoring Boardand the JUPITER Steering Committee, which met on March 29, 2008. The study willbe stopped early because there is unequivocal evidence of a reduction incardiovascular morbidity and mortality amongst patients who received CRESTORwhen compared to placebo. JUPITER (Justification for the Use of statins in Primary prevention: anIntervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) was designed to determine iftreating patients with no evidence of pre-existing cardiovascular disease andlow to normal LDL-C but elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) with CRESTOR 20mg oncedaily would reduce major cardiovascular events. CRP is a recognized marker ofinflammation and is associated with an increased risk of atheroscleroticcardiovascular events.The JUPITER study team has initiated activities to close this large multi-centerstudy. Over 15,000 trial participants will be scheduled by their investigatorfor final assessments at over 1,200 sites in 26 countries. Data from thesevisits will be collected and reviewed to allow a full and complete analysis andfinal results of the study will be published once the analysis is complete. JUPITER is one study from the global research initiative known as the GALAXYprogramme, which has now recruited more than 64,000 patients from 55 countriesworldwide, to investigate the impact of CRESTOR on cardiovascular risk reductionand patient outcomes. About AstraZeneca AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in theresearch, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticalsand the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world's leadingpharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $29.55 billion and leadingpositions in sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience,respiratory, oncology and infection products. AstraZeneca is listed in the DowJones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index. For more information about AstraZeneca please visit: www.astrazeneca.com For further information: Media Enquiries: Neil McCrae, +44 207 304 5045 (24 hours)Steve Brown, +44 207 304 5033 (24 hours)Chris Sampson, +44 207 304 5130 (24 hours) Investor Enquiries: Karl Hard, +44 207 304 5322Jonathan Hunt, +44 7775 704032Mina Blair, +44 20 7304 5084Ed Seage, +1 302 886 4065Jorgen Winroth, +1 212 579 0506Peter Vozzo, (MedImmune) +1 301 398 4358 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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