Dr Gunnar Olsson, Head of the Cardiovascular Therapy Area at AstraZeneca, said: “An estimated 1.6 million people in the Netherlands have elevated cholesterol levels, putting them at risk of cardiovascular disease. With the efficacy we’ve seen in clinical studies, CRESTOR has the potential to make a real difference to these patients’ lives.”

The company plans to launch in the remaining EU markets over the coming months, following the conclusion of the Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP) and the local Marketing Authorisations and subsequent pricing and reimbursement discussions. The Netherlands acted as the reference member state for the MRP.

The Dutch statin market is valued at 240 million Euros ($220 million), and is growing at 15 per cent a year. The global statin market is currently worth approximately US $19 billion annually and is growing at about 15 per cent a year.

The clinical development programme for CRESTOR now involves over 16,000 patients and includes a number of head-to-head comparative studies. In multiple clinical studies, CRESTOR has been shown to be more effective in lowering LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C or ‘bad cholesterol’) than currently prescribed statins. CRESTOR 10mg gets significantly more patients to their European LDL-C goal than atorvastatin 10mg (82% v 51% respectively), simvastatin 20mg (80% v 48%) and pravastatin 20mg (80% v 16%). In addition to the dramatic reductions seen in LDL-C, CRESTOR produces a significant increase in HDL-C (‘good cholesterol’), as well as reducing total cholesterol and triglycerides.

AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world with healthcare sales of over $17.8 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, oncology, anaesthesia (including pain management), cardiovascular, central nervous system (CNS) and respiratory products. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global and European) as well as the FTSE4Good Index