Lipitor vs Crestor
Both are statins. Here is how Lipitor and Crestor compare on class, mechanism, dosing, approval and supply.
At a glance
Key differences
- Same class. Both Lipitor and Crestor are statins, so they work through the same broad mechanism. Differences between them tend to be about dosing, route, how selective they are, and side effects rather than what they target.
- Time on the market. Lipitor was first approved by the FDA in 1996, Crestor in 2003. That gives Lipitor roughly 7 more years of real-world use and long-term safety data.
- Who markets them. Lipitor is marketed by Viatris; Crestor by AstraZeneca.
What each one treats
LIPITOR is indicated: • To reduce the risk of: o Myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, revascularization procedures, and angina in adults with multiple risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) but without clinically evident CHD o MI and stroke in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus with multiple risk factors for CHD but without clinically evident CHD o Non-fatal MI, fatal and non-fatal stroke, revascularization procedures, hospitalization for congestive heart failure, and angina in adults with clinically evident CHD • As an adjunct to diet to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in: o Adults with primary hyperlipidemia. o Adults and pediatric patients aged 10 years and older with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH). • As an adjunct to other LDL-C-lowering therapies, or alone if such treatments are unavailable, to reduce LDL-C in adults and pediatric patie…
A potent statin for lowering LDL cholesterol.
How each one works
12.1 Mechanism of Action LIPITOR is a selective, competitive inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme that converts 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A to mevalonate, a precursor of sterols, including cholesterol. In animal models, LIPITOR lowers plasma cholesterol and lipoprotein levels by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase and cholesterol synthesis in the liver and by increasing the number of hepatic LDL receptors on the cell surface to enhance uptake and catabolism of LDL; LIPITOR also reduces LDL production and the number of LDL particles.
A potent statin for lowering LDL cholesterol.
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Which medicine is right for a given person depends on their diagnosis, other conditions, other medicines, kidney and liver function, pregnancy, and cost or reimbursement — none of which this page knows. Two drugs in the same class are not automatically interchangeable. Never start, stop or switch a prescription medicine on the basis of a web page; that decision belongs to you and your clinician or pharmacist.
How this page is built
The facts on this page are pulled directly from official U.S. FDA datasets — they are not written from memory. Each field below names the dataset it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- FDA Drug Label (openFDA) ↗ Indications, mechanism of action and pharmacologic class
- Drugs@FDA ↗ First FDA approval date and the company holding the application
- FDA Drug Shortage Database ↗ Current US supply / shortage status
Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 10 Oct 2026. How every register is built: methodology · fixes we have made: corrections log.