AstraZeneca won approval Monday to promote its cholesterol fighting drug Crestor for preventing heart disease in a vast new market of people with healthy cholesterol but other heart risks.
Crestor won approval from the Food and Drug Administration for reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, bypass operations and artery-clearing procedures in people with high levels of C-reactive protein in addition to at least one other risk factor. That clears the way for the drug for millions of people who are not typically prescribed cholesterol drugs now.