WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Lipitor to reduce stroke and heart attack risk in diabetics.
Pfizer Inc., manufacturer of the cholesterol-lowering drug, announced the FDA also approved Lipitor Tuesday as a preventive for non-diabetic patients with multiple risk factors for stroke and heart disease, including smoking and overweight.
The FDA decision allows Lipitor to be marketed as a regimen to reduce heart attack and stroke risk.
The ruling was based on a study that tracked 2,800 patients with Type 2 diabetes, near normal cholesterol and at least one other risk factor. Researchers found patients on Lipitor suffered 50 percent fewer heart attacks than those on a placebo, and the study was stopped two years early because the results were so overwhelming.
Another study found a 26 percent reduction in heart attacks when Lipitor was given to patients who had three or more risk factors -- including overweight, age over 55, family history and smoking.
