FDA Approves Crestor For High Cholesterol Kids

NEW YORK (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration approved AstraZeneca PLC's cholesterol drug Crestor for use by children and teenagers with a genetic disease that causes high cholesterol, the company said Friday.

The FDA cleared marketing of Crestor for patients age 10 to 17 with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, AstraZeneca said. The disease affects 10 million people worldwide, and causes high levels of so-called "bad" LDL cholesterol, and greater risk of early heart disease.

When AstraZeneca applied for the new approval of Crestor, the patents supporting the drug were extended by six months. They are now scheduled to expire in July 2016.

AstraZeneca reported $3.6 billion in sales of Crestor in 2008, which makes the product its third best selling drug, behind the heartburn pill Nexium and the schizophrenia drug Seroquel.

In morning trading, shares of the London-based company dipped 15 cents to $44.92.