RIYADH, 9 January 2008 — The Saudi Heart Association has welcomed the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent approval of Crestor (rosuvastatin) as a dietary supplement intended to slow the progression of atherosclerosis in patients with elevated cholesterol.
Fat buildup along the walls of arteries could block sufficient blood flow, causing blood clot, which in most cases leads to heart attacks, a primary cause of death in Saudi Arabia.
Blood clots can also form around plaque deposits, which affect blood flow. If the clot gets dislodged, it moves into the heart, lungs, or brain, and can cause a heart attack, a pulmonary embolism, or a stroke.
Dr. Mohammed Arafa, president of the Saudi Heart Association, said the positive results achieved in tests made on Crestor is a very important news for the medical society and patients in the Kingdom, where heart attacks and stroke resulting from blockage in the arteries are the two main causes of death.
“Crestor has shown not only significantly reducing bad cholesterol, but also increasing good cholesterol,” he said.
Arafa said Crestor has “demonstrated its superiority in dyslipidemia” and is available in Saudi Arabia as Crestor 10mg and 20mg.
He said the drug in its 40mg is not a registered dose in the Kingdom.
Dyslipidemia, or a disruption in the amount of lipids in the blood, is also often attributed to diet and lifestyle.
It could also be cause by the prolonged elevation of insulin levels.
Astra Zeneca, the distributor of the drug in the Kingdom, said Crestor can be found in the majority of pharmacies in the Kingdom.
The breakthrough in the fight against plaque buildup in the coronary arteries was first announced during last year’s American College of Cardiology 55th Annual Scientific Session.
A study known as Asteroid1 was conducted in many countries involving patients with atherosclerosis.
