ATLANTA, March 13 (UPI) -- Kidney-disease patients taking a high dose of Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor showed significant improvement.
So concludes a study released Monday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta.
"We anticipated that atorvastatin might provide a protective effect and slow the typical decline in kidney function in this patient population, but we didn't expect to see this level of improvement," said James Shepherd, a professor at the University of Glasgow Medical School.
The Treating to New Targets study of nearly 8,000 men and women found that 50 percent of patients with kidney dysfunction taking the highest dose of Lipitor (80 mg) had normal kidney function at end of the five-year study.
Patients taking Lipitor 10 mg saw a 5.6-percent improvement in kidney function, while those on the 80 mg dose improved by 8.5 percent.
The study patients were between the ages of 35 and 75 and were recruited from 14 countries.
People with high cholesterol are particularly at risk for kidney disease, with about 20 million people in the United States affected by chronic kidney disease.
Lipitor is the world's top-selling cholesterol-lowering therapy, with worldwide sales topping $12 billion.
