The MERCURY II trial: benefits of rosuvastatin

Abstract

Measuring Effective Reductions in Cholesterol Using Rosuvastatin therapy (MERCURY II) was a 16-week, randomised, open-label study in high-risk subjects with primary hypercholesterolaemia, comparing efficacy and safety following a switch after eight weeks from the accepted/potential start doses of atorvastatin (10 and 20 mg) and simvastatin (20 and 40 mg) to the most widely used doses of rosuvastatin (10 and 20 mg) or remaining on initial therapy. At 16 weeks, significantly more patients switched to rosuvastatin had achieved their National Cholesterol Education Programme/Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP/ATP III) low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets than those who remained on atorvastatin or simvastatin, also patients with hypertriglyceridaemia were more likely to achieve their LDL-C, non high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apo B goals when switched to rosuvastatin. A greater number of patients deemed very high risk achieved their optional NCEP/ATP III LDL-C target of < 1.8 mmol/L (70 mg/dL) when switched to rosuvastatin from either atorvastatin or simvastatin. All statin regimes were well tolerated with a comparable side effect profile. In high-risk patients, where new lipid targets are especially difficult to achieve, switching to rosuvastatin 10 or 20 mg was a safe and effective strategy.