By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca's powerful cholesterol fighter Crestor will take center stage at the American Heart Association scientific meeting in New Orleans next week as doctors and investors await details of a study that was halted early because the drug had cut death rates.
The so-called Jupiter trial tested use of the statin Crestor in patients with no heart problems and low to normal cholesterol, but who had elevated levels of C-reactive protein -- an indicator of arterial inflammation that has been linked to heart disease risk.
The study was halted in March -- years ahead of schedule -- after independent safety monitors found unequivocal evidence of a reduction in illness and death among patients who received Crestor compared to those who took a placebo.
If the actual data is dramatic enough, it could alter the practice of preventive medicine with potentially millions of new patients put on statins who under current cholesterol guidelines would never be prescribed the widely used medicines.
It could also boost AstraZeneca's revenue and help to further differentiate Crestor in the battle for market share in a crowded arena that now includes generic options.
Some Crestor sales forecasts are already running as high as $6 billion by 2012, but expectations for the Jupiter data are also running high, making disappointment a real possibility.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley believe Crestor is likely to provide a highly significant 30 percent to 40 percent reduction in heart attack, stroke and death -- well above the hypothesized reduction of 25 percent at the time the study was launched.
Crestor competitors will also receive attention from the thousands of cardiologists, health care professionals and researchers who will descend on the city known for rich foods and other less than heart healthy pursuits.
A panel will discuss a study of the controversial combination cholesterol pill Vytorin that has left a pall over the once fast-growing medicine. Vytorin, jointly sold by Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Corp, combines the popular statin Zocor, now available in generic form as simvastatin, with a newer cholesterol medicine Zetia.
Vytorin was already under fire from critics who questioned its value without proof that it cut heart attacks or death when data from a study called Seas found higher incidence of cancer in patients who received the drug.
Whether the cancer finding was a fluke or not is expected to be a hot topic at the panel discussion.

"Between Jupiter and the follies of Schering-Plough/Merck with Vytorin/Zetia this year, Crestor has found itself in a comparatively good spot," Sanford Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson said in a research note.
Results of a study that compared safety and efficacy of generic simvastatin at 20 milligrams and 80 milligrams will also be presented at the meeting.
If the higher dose turns up greater adverse safety issues, it could give Crestor and other more powerful cholesterol drugs, such as Pfizer Inc's Lipitor, a leg up in reimbursement arguments with Medicare and insurance companies that favor generic drugs in their formularies.
Cholesterol drugs will not have the show to themselves. Experimental blood clot preventers will share the stage at the AHA meeting.
Data is expected from a mid-stage trial of rivaroxaban, being developed by Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson that may suggest that it can prevent new heart attacks among patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome.
It is awaiting approval in the United States to prevent dangerous blood clots in patients who have undergone knee and hip replacements. But its biggest commercial potential could be in preventing strokes among people with atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm problem.
Researchers will also further examine data from a pivotal study that compared prasugrel -- being developed by Eli Lilly and Co and Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd -- with the multibillion-dollar blood clot preventer Plavix, sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi-Aventis.
A U.S. approval decision for prasugrel has twice been delayed and its future remains up in the air as regulators weigh its undeniable effectiveness against higher risk of serious bleeding.
(Additional reporting by Ransdell Pierson and Ben Hirschler; editing by Leslie Gevirtz) Keywords: HEART/ . Keywords: HEART/

(bill.berkrot@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223-6030; Reuters Messaging: bill.berkrot.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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