Summary

Simvastatin in addition to usual care did not reduce the rate of or time to exacerbations in patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the Simvastatin Therapy for Moderate and Severe COPD study [STATCOPE; NCT01061671; Criner GJ et al. N Engl J Med 2014]. This multicenter study conducted in the United States and Canada and sponsored by respective federal agencies sought to validate benefits seen with statins, perhaps related to their anti-inflammatory effects, in retrospective studies of COPD.