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Pitavastatin is approved in the U.S. but not yet in Canada for the normalization of cholesterol levels. A clinical trial of pitavastatin, called Reprieve, is underway in Canada and other countries.
Pitavastatin is a potent statin. A one-year clinical trial has found that it can help to normalize cholesterol levels in HIV-positive people. This study was called Intrepid and compared the effects of 4 mg/day of pitavastatin against an older statin called pravastatin (40 mg/day) in 252 HIV-positive participants. Researchers found that levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL-C) were reduced by about 31% in pitavastatin users vs. 21% in pravastatin users. Pitavastatin was able to significantly reduce the following measures of inflammation:
Taken together, these reductions in proteins associated with inflammation and the decrease of bad cholesterol strongly suggest that long-term use of pitavastatin has potential to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Importantly, neither drug increased the risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
In general, both drugs were well tolerated. Common side effects in the study were as follows:
The results from Intrepid strongly support the ongoing Reprieve clinical trial to assess pitavastatin’s impact on reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke and death from cardiovascular complications. More information about the Reprieve study appears later in this issue of TreatmentUpdate.
—Sean R. Hosein
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