Growacet wrote "If we assume that the Crestor arm shows RRR of ~60% but overall BETonMACE succeeds with the primary endpoint and shows RRR of ~30%....so in this hypothetical BETonMACE meets the primary endpoint, however the Lipitor arm's RRR is neglible and not statistically significant. My question is about patients taking Lipitor.....Could they be switched to Crestor or is there perhaps a reason why they're on Lipitor and not Crestor?"

If the split is ~60% RRR for Crestor group and ~30% RRR for the Lipitor group, this means the overall combined statin %RRR (the primary endpoint) is ~45% RRR. I'll take it! BTW, it is extremely likely that a 30% RRR would be statistically significant. Less likely as the %RRR gets lower and lower. But 30% is amazing. I'll answer your other question along with my response to Cityslicker99 below.

Cityslicker99 wrote "As a former physician with an interest in lipids, I’m not aware of any important clinical difference between the two. To justify switching from one to the other in combination with apabetalone in your hypothetical situation, I think you would first need to do a new clinical trial with patients randomized to one or other combination."

There are different properties to Crestor and Lipitor and other statins. My understanding is that some patients that experience statin intolerance (myopathies, etc) can tolerate one type of statin and not another. Sometimes it is the dose. Sometimes it is the type of statin. As long as a patient currently on Lipitor can tolerate Crestor, I see no reason why they couldn't be switched. Aren't both generic now? So cost shouldn't be an issue. And CitySlicker99, in case you aren't aware, BETonMACE IS designed to test Crestor vs. Lipitor. See this post. They have four treatement groups: Crestor/Placebo, Crestor/Apabetalone, Lipitor/Placebo, Lipitor/Apabetalone. Check out the ClinicalTrials.gov listing here. No need for a new clinical trial to justify the statin switch (assuming the data supports the hypothesis). And in case you aren't aware, Resverlogix has a patent on the Apabetalone/Rosuvastatin combo. I link to it in this post.

BearDownAZ