What are the benefits of adding ezetimibe?

EXPLORER Trial¹

Significantly more patients receiving rosuvastatin/ezetimibe than rosuvastatin alone achieved the primary endpoint of the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III LDL-C goal of < 2.6 mmol/L (94.0% vs 79.1%, p <0.001)¹

Adding ezetimibe to rosuvastatin produces a significantly greater reduction in LDL-C than high-dose statin monotherapy

Maximizing efficacy vs. statin monotherapy

Reductions in LDL-C at 6 weeks

ACTE Trial²

Adding ezetimibe to rosuvastatin produces a significantly greater reduction than increasing the statin dose2

Maximizing efficacy vs. statin monotherapy…

Change from baseline in LDL-C at 6 weeks²

IMPROVE-IT Trial³

The addition of ezetimibe to a statin further reduces cardiovascular event rates compared with statins alone³

Statin-ezetimibe resulted in a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular events than statin monotherapy³

When added to statins, ezetimibe reduces LDL-C levels by an additional 23% on average compared with placebo.⁴

IMPROVE-IT³: double-blind, randomized trial involving 18,144 patients hospitalized for an acute coronary syndrome with LDL cholesterol levels of 1.3 to 2.6 mmol per litre if they were receiving lipid-lowering therapy or 1.3 to 3.2 mmol per litre if they were not receiving lipid-lowering therapy. The combination of simvastatin (40 mg) and ezetimibe (10 mg) (simvastatin–ezetimibe) was compared with simvastatin (40 mg) and placebo (simvastatin monotherapy). 

Patients: simvastatin monotherapy (n=9,077), simvastatin + ezetimibe (n=9,067).

Primary endpoint: composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, unstable angina requiring rehospitalization, coronary revascularization, or non-fatal stroke.