Is pitavastatin better than older statins for lowering lipids?

Pitavastatin causes a linear dose–response reduction in the percentage change from control of blood LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and blood triglycerides. There is no dose–response relationship for HDL cholesterol, which is increased by 4% on average for all doses. This effect on HDL is not different from the other studied statins. Pitavastatin doses of 1–16mg/day resulted in a 33.3–54.7% decrease in LDL cholesterol. From the slope of the lines, for every twofold dose increase, there was a 3.93%, 5.35% and 3.76% decrease in blood total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, respectively. The slope of the dose–response line is similar to the other studied statins: atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, fluvastatin and cerivastatin.

For reducing LDL cholesterol, pitavastatin is about 77‐fold more potent than fluvastatin, 6.2‐fold more potent than atorvastatin, 1.7‐fold more potent than rosuvastatin and 3.3‐fold less potent than cerivastatin.

There was not enough data to determine risk of withdrawal due to adverse effects of pitavastatin.