Patients were put on a cholesterol-lowering diet
and given one of the medications. After 18 weeks, patients given
simvastatin had significantly lower total cholesterol, lower LDL, lower triglycerides, and higher HDL cholesterol levels than those who took pravastatin. The study found that the patients on simvastatin achieved the target LDL level of less than 130, more than those on pravastatin (65 percent on simvastatin versus 35 percent on pravastatin).