Building a better statin

The newest entrant in the crowded and increasingly generic statin space, Kowa Co. Ltd. says it is prepared to show its Livalo pitavastatin has a lower likelihood of drug-drug interactions than most other statins. The company thinks this will help make the drug the top choice of physicians for patients who need multiple medications, and is now building a pricing model and working with payers to get reimbursement.

Based on head-to-head studies on Livalo's cholesterol-lowering effects, FDA last week approved the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to treat primary hypercholesterolemia and combined dyslipidemia...