Unique New Initiative by World-Recognized Specialists in Heart Disease and Diabetes to Reduce Residual Vascular Risk Launched Today

New Orleans and Los Angeles, November 10 (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Current Treatment Fails to Abolish Majority of Vascular Risk

- Residual Risk Reduction Initiative (R3i) Calls for Action to
Reduce the Lipid-Related Residual Vascular Risk Unaddressed by
Current Standards of Care in Millions of Patients With Heart Disease
and Diabetes

Internationally recognized specialists from North America,
Europe, Asia and Japan have come together today to launch the
Residual Risk Reduction initiative (R3i) - a unique global program
to evaluate and reduce the excess risk of myocardial infarction,
stroke, kidney disease, loss of vision and non-traumatic limb
amputation which exists in many patients with heart disease and
diabetes despite optimal, currently available care.

The R3i, a worldwide, academic, multidisciplinary non-profit
organization, aims to successfully address the excessively high risk
of macro- and microvascular complications in patients with
atherogenic dyslipidemia, characterized by elevated triglycerides and
low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and
unaddressed by current standards of care. This lipid abnormality is
typical in patients with type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome and
common in patients with established cardiovascular disease.

The President of the R3i, Professor Jean-Charles Fruchart of the
University of Lille, France said: "We now have unequivocal evidence
from numerous studies showing that greater reductions in low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar alone will
have little, if any, additional impact on residual vascular risk.
Therefore, we urgently need new strategies to address other
modifiable risk factors such as atherogenic dyslipidemia, a strong
contributor to residual vascular risk in millions of patients with
diabetes and cardiovascular disease."

The R3i will address this major public health problem. In its
manifesto published today in Diabetes & Vascular Disease Research
(Diabetes Vasc Dis Res 2008;5:319-35) and in a supplement to the
American Journal of Cardiology (Am J Cardiol 2008:102:Supplement 10A
), the R3i calls for:

- Original research to quantify the full extent of residual
vascular risk in patients with atherogenic dyslipidemia and to identify
new targets for interventions.
- Educational programs to create awareness of residual vascular
risk and to encourage healthcare professionals, particularly Primary
Care Physicians (PCPs), to translate available research findings into
improved treatment strategies.
- Advocacy to ensure that the issue of residual vascular risk
associated with atherogenic dyslipidemia is given appropriate priority
in national and international guidelines.

"Our overall goal must be to provide knowledge and understanding
to allow physicians to get closer to normalizing residual vascular
risk in patients with heart disease and/or diabetes," Frank Sacks,
Professor of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Harvard School of
Public Health, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
USA and Vice-president of R3i, said. "We hope that the original
research conducted under the auspices of R3i and the widespread
communication of current knowledge and new data will lead to
significant improvements in the reduction of risk beyond the levels
we achieve now. Despite significant advances in reducing vascular
risk in the last 20 years, we have only just begun to address this
issue. We invite our colleagues to join us in addressing this
important challenge."

The R3i is led by a Board of Trustees and an International
Steering Committee (ISC) of 21 officers and members from the
disciplines of cardiology, diabetology, lipidology, endocrinology,
epidemiology, nutrition, ophthalmology, nephrology and basic science.
The legal body of the R3i will be a Foundation established in
Switzerland. National organizations have been or are in the process
of being established in more than 40 countries worldwide. These
beneficiaries of the R3i Foundation will implement research and
educational programs in their respective countries and will also
initiate their own national initiatives, according to the mission of
the R3i.

The R3i Foundation will seek funding from multiple sources.
Initial seed funding was provided by Solvay Pharmaceuticals.

Initial research and education programs focus on extent of
residual vascular risk

The initial R3i research program involves two worldwide
epidemiological surveys which aim to quantify the full extent of
residual macro- and microvascular risk associated with atherogenic
dyslipidemia in patients with heart disease and/or type 2 diabetes
receiving current standards of care.

Additionally, this research will generate hypotheses about the
role of lipid abnormalities such as atherogenicity of serum
triglycerides and atheroprotection of high density lipoprotein
cholesterol (HDL-C) in the future management of residual vascular
risk.

The R3i in its commitment to education has already begun to
develop educational tool kits including a resource slide kit and a
dedicated website including a CME-accredited program. This will
facilitate live web seminars (webinars) allowing physicians to
interact and communicate with each other across the globe.

For Notes to Editors, details of the Board of Trustees and the
International Steering Committee, countries where R3i national
organizations have been or are in the process of being established
and references please go to the R3i website: http://www.r3i.org/

The website contains information on the members, the mission, the
research and the education programs. It also features links to
various resources discussing residual vascular risk.

ots Originaltext: Residual Risk Reduction Initiative (R3i)
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
For further information please contact: Wendy Gerber, Manning Selvage
& Lee, Phone: +44-20-7878-3259, Mobile: +44-7949-034-007