Crestor Pharmaceutical Injury Claims

The cholesterol-reducing drug Crestor, or rosuvastatin, has more than double the harmful side effects of similar drugs known as statins, according to a study released May 23, 2005 by the American Heart Association.

Crestor has been associated with kidney toxicity and rhabdomylosis, a disease that causes muscle weakness and is fatal in severe cases. If you or someone you know took Crestor and experienced harmful side effects, you may want to consult with and attorney to consider a lawsuit.

The AHA study cited an incidence of adverse side effects that was 2.2 times greater for Crestor than for patients taking Zocor, a similar drug made by Merck & Co., and 6.8 times higher than for those using Pfizer's Lipitor. The study noted six deaths per million among Crestor users but only three per million deaths for Zocor and two per million for Lipitor.

Crestor, manufactured by AstraZeneca, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2003. But there were later reports linking Crestor with rhabdomyolysis, which causes muscle cell breakdown and can lead to kidney failure and death.

Symptoms of rhabdomyolisis include:
muscle pain
weakness
tenderness
fever
malaise
nausea
dark urine

Pain from rhabdomyolisis can be generalized throughout the body or involve specific muscle groups, most commonly the lower back and calves.

On October 22, 2004, Public Citizen said twenty-nine patients who took AstraZeneca's cholesterol drug Crestor have developed kidney damage. According to Public Citizen, the rate of reported kidney problems is about 75 times higher with Crestor than with all other statin drugs combined.

Despite the risk of rhabdomyolisis and kidney damage, AstraZenica actively markets Crestor on television and in print. Crestor's sales exceed more than $1 billion per year.

In 2001, another statin, Baycol, made by Bayer A.G., was removed from the U.S. market after it was found to be associated with 31 deaths due to rhabdomyolysis. A flurry of lawsuits has ensued. By August 2004, Bayer A.G. had agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle 2,825 Baycol lawsuits, with nearly 8,000 cases still pending.

It is believed that Crestor may be similar to Baycol in that it may carry a higher risk of rhabdomyolysis than other cholesterol-reducing medications.

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If you or a loved one has suffered kidney damage or Rhabdomyolisis after taking Crestor, you need a law firm with the resources and the experience to bring you justice. Please call or e-mail the pharmaceutical litigation attorneys at Kline & Specter. We'll evaluate your claim for free and we don't get paid unless you do. Our expertise will help you get the compensation you deserve.

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This page was last updated on January 31, 2007.