CRESTOR OUTCOMES STUDY JUPITER CLOSES EARLY DUE TO UNEQUIVOCAL EVIDENCE OF BENEFIT

AstraZeneca today announced it has decided to stop the CRESTOR JUPITER clinical study early based on a recommendation from an Independent Data Monitoring Board and the JUPITER Steering Committee, which met on March 29, 2008. The study will be stopped early because there is unequivocal evidence of a reduction in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality amongst patients who received CRESTOR when compared to placebo.

JUPITER (Justification for the Use of statins in Primary prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) was designed to determine if treating patients with no evidence of pre-existing cardiovascular disease and low to normal LDL-C but elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) with CRESTOR 20mg once daily would reduce major cardiovascular events. CRP is a recognized marker of inflammation and is associated with an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events.

The JUPITER study team has initiated activities to close this large multi-centre study. Over 15,000 trial participants will be scheduled by their investigator for final assessments at over 1,200 sites in 26 countries. Data from these visits will be collected and reviewed to allow a full and complete analysis and final results of the study will be published once the analysis is complete.

JUPITER is one study from the global research initiative known as the GALAXY programme, which has now recruited more than 64,000 patients from 55 countries worldwide, to investigate the impact of CRESTOR on cardiovascular risk reduction and patient outcomes.

Kontaktpersoner media:
Per Lorentz/Staffan Ternby, 08-553 26020/26107
Steve Brown, +44 207 304 5033
Chris Sampson, +44 207 304 5130
Neil McCrae, +44 207 304 5045

Investor Relations:
Jonathan Hunt, +44 207 304 5087
Karl Hard, +44 207 304 5322
Mina Blair, +44 20 7304 5084
Staffan Ternby, 08-553 26107
Ed Seage, +1 302 886 4065
Jörgen Winroth, +1 212 579 0506
Peter Vozzo, (MedImmune) +1 301 398 4358



About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and supplier for healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of US $29.55 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection product sales. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.