SHARP, Study of Heart and Renal Protection   Sponsored by     University of Oxford, UK   Funded by     Merck Schering Plough   U.S. National Coordinator     Bertram L. Kasiske, MD, Department of Medicine, Hennepin County Medical Center   Berman Center Co-investigator     Richard Grimm, MD, PhD   U.S. Regional Study Coordinator     Lana Herskovitz, MA   Berman Center Site Coordinator     Cathy Heuer, RN, BSN   Description     SHARP is an international, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial sponsored by the University of Oxford, UK. The Berman Center is the US Regional Coordinating Center (RCC). The Berman Center is also a SHARP clinical site, enrolling participants locally. SHARP will enroll approximately 9,000 patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) without coronary heart disease (CHD). Its purpose is to assess the effect of a cholesterol-lowering therapy for the reduction of cardiovascular (CV) events (non-fatal myocardial infarction or cardiac death, non-fatal or fatal stroke, or revascularization). Of the 9,000 participants, 3,000 are expected to be on dialysis and 6,000 pre-dailysis. The active treatment is a combination of simvastatin (20mg daily) and ezetimibe (10mg daily).