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NICE recommends statins to save 10,000 lives

Date published: 25/01/2006

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended statins for adult patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). It is thought the drug, which prevents atherosclerosis, the furring-up and narrowing of arteries, could now be prescribed to 3.4 million people in the UK, from the 1.8 million who currently take them.

The decision could also result in 10,000 lives a year being saved as analysis showed deaths could be cut by 21 per cent. NICE now recommends statin therapy for adults who have a 20 per cent or greater ten-year risk of developing CVD. Currently five statins have UK marketing authorisation: Pfizer's atorvastatin, Novartis Pharmaceuticals' fluvastatin, Bristol-Myers Squibb's pravastatin, AstraZeneca's rosuvastatin and Merck Sharp & Dohme's simvastatin.

The appraisal committee's report stated: "There were no data on clinical events to suggest the superiority of any one statin over all the others in reducing cardiovascular events." However, it did note that data on clinical events were not currently available for rosuvastatin.

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