Crestor gains market share on news of Vytorin issues

NEW YORK AstraZeneca’s cholesterol drug Crestor has experienced an increase in prescriptions in the last few months.

New prescriptions increased from 7.7 in late March to 8.2 percent in late May. Factors driving the increase included problems with Vytorin, Crestor’s major rival, manufactured by Merck and Schering-Plough.

Total sales of Crestor increased by 33 percent in 2007, to $2.8 billion, according to AstraZeneca financial reports.