The bridge to achieving the greater LDL-C goal of <70 mg/dl: inhibiting cholesterol absorption and production

On Saturday 1 September a Satellite symposium was organised by Merck/Shering-Plough (MSP) and chaired by G. Maurer (Vienna, Austria) and J.J.P. Kastelein (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), on the additive value of cholesterol absorption inhibitors to achieve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels below 70 mg/dl (<1.81 mmol/l). Recent upgraded guidelines from the ESC and the EASD include an LDL-C below 70 mg/dl for secondary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) events in diabetic patients with symptomatic cardiovascular disease (CVD). In many European countries the current guideline target levels of an LDL-C of <100 mg/dl (<2.5 mmol/l) are reached in less than 40% of treated patients, with a large portion of patients even remRoleing untreated. Several distinguished speakers in this symposium underscored the importance of a greater CV risk reduction through lower LDL-C levels by a combined therapy of coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) and cholesterol absorption inhibition with ezetimibe. …