Drugmaker Merck & Co. claimed that on Saturday that a recent study showed that its cholesterol drug Vytorin offered to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke and at the same time need for heart surgeries in some chronic kidney patients by 16 percent.

The Oxford University findings stated that more than 9,000 patients who have went ahead to the end-stage chronic kidney ailment.

Merck claimed that based on the results, which resulted at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology in Denver, it at the same time will lead to the approval to make use of the drug for patients with chronic kidney disease.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N. J., said, ‘The result is significant because kidney patients have a high risk of vascular disease. It also helps Merck, because the company has been dealing with increased competition.’

The cholesterol drug group is very cutthroat in the market, with sales growing more than $30 billion a year.