TENS of thousands of North-East heart patients could benefit from a lifesaving new drug.

But surveys show that only four out of ten GPs are aware of a cholesterol-lowering drug which claims to be more effective than any other on the market.

Crestor is the first of a new type of "super-statin", a drug which lowers cholesterol more easily than similar drugs.

High cholesterol levels are responsible for about 45 per cent of heart disease deaths in men and 47 per cent in women.

But despite it being launched a month ago, many family doctors still do not know about the drug.

A spokeswoman for Crestor, made by drug company AstraZeneca, said: "This drug could help many people live longer and save the NHS millions.

"Unlike other statins, it works first time in four out of five patients, cutting out the hassle of repeated visits to the doctor while the GP is trying to get the dose right."

Until now, only 50 per cent of patients who are on other statins reach healthy levels of cholesterol.

A survey of GPs carried out after the drug was launched showed that only 40 per cent of family doctors had heard of Crestor.

Recently, Health Secretary Alan Milburn revealed that an extra 6,000 lives a year are being saved after he ordered the prescribing of statins to be doubled.

A few months ago, national heart director Dr Roger Boyle announced that an extra billion pounds was being provided for the funding of statins.

Since their introduction, statins have been shown to reduce total cholesterol by 42 per cent, cutting heart disease and stroke deaths by at least one quarter in five years.

North-East GP Dr Stewart Findley, a member of the national Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, said: "We already know that all statins save lives. This new drug is very effective at lowering cholesterol levels. GPs can be reassured that this drug is likely to work on the starting dose and get patients down to the target cholesterol level."

Dr Findlay, who is a partner in a Bishop Auckland practice, estimated that seven per cent of the population of the North-East probably needed to be on cholesteron-lowering statin drugs.

"You are talking about tens of thousands of people in the region who should be on statins," he said.

Even in the Durham Dales, where the efforts of primary care teams to reduce heart disease have been recognised nationally, Dr Findlay said about 25 per cent of heart patients are not on statins.

"GPs may find this particular drug useful with their patients, those who need reduction of their cholesterol levels and those where you need to get to the target level quickly," he said.

Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of death in the UK. One in four men and on in six women die from the disease, accounting for 120,000 deaths in the UK every year.

The North-East has some of the highest levels of heart disease in the UK and people in the region are likely to die earlier than their affluent South-East counterparts.

* For four years, The Northern Echo's A Chance To Live campaign has urged the Government to improve the treatment of heart patients after the death of Darlington father-of-two Ian Weir, in 1999. Mr Weir, 38, died waiting for bypass surgery seven months after he had been placed on a list.

Mr Milburn has publicly acknowledged the role played by this newspaper in persuading him to make heart disease one of the priorities for the NHS. He has responded by speeding up the treatment of patients needing bypass operations, a move which has seen a big drop in the number of patients waiting longer than six months.