Some Doubt the Value And Safety of the Latest Pill, Crestor: “For patients who have tried and failed to lower their level sufficiently with lifestyle changes — diet and exercise — physicians generally recommend a statin, says Pasternak. However, with five such drugs already on the market, ‘I don’t think we desperately need an additional statin,’ he says.

Judging by the hundreds of millions the company spent developing Crestor and the effort it has put into winning approval, AstraZeneca disagrees. The company had to delay the drug’s introduction by a year when alarming toxicity was discovered at the highest dose of Crestor — 80 milligrams a day. People taking that dose were more likely than people on lower doses to have serious side effects such as muscle and kidney damage.” Washington Post