A new, effective cholesterol-lowering drug has been developed
Innovative cholesterol drug could reduce risk of death from heart attack and stroke mózgu by lowering bad cholesterol levels. Heart attacks and strokes mózgu account for about 15 millionóin deathóin a year.
Scientists have been working for years on compounds that inhibit a protein called PCSK9 hoping to develop a breakthrough drug. PCSK9 plays a key role in the metabolism of the so-called “specific. LDL cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein). It was recognized in 2003. Inhibition of this protein increases the amount of LDL cholesterol degraded, whichóry is more effectively distributed.
The new study involving more than 27500 participantsów confirm that the PCSK9 protein inhibitor registered under the name evolocumab more effectively lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of death from diseaseób of the cardiovascular system. Clinical trials lasted two years. Test participantsów regularly used other drugs.
Currently, the most popular cholesterol-lowering drugs are statins. However, not all patients respond to them. The drug is not intended to replace statins, but to complement therapy. It is also to be aimed at waspsób, któwhich statins do not help or help insufficiently.
Several companies are currently working on compounds targeting the PCSK9 protein. It m.In. Sanofi, Pfizer and Amgen, gidze research is most advanced. The latter is responsible for evolocumab. California-based Amgen is the first company to show off results from such a large study.
– Evolocumab is much more effective than statins – said Professor Peter Sever of Imperial College London, whoóry took part in research conducted in the UK. – During the study, I watched cholesterol levels drop and drop. Such a resultów has not seen in all my medical practice. This is probably the most important research on a cholesterol-lowering drug in more than 20 years – added.
The findings suggest that the new drug is capable of preventing one stroke-related death mózgu or heart attack in 74 cases. But evolocumab is not among the cheap preparationsów. The cost of a year’s treatment with the drug is valued at about two thousand poundsów.
The results of the study have been published in the journal „New England Journal of Medicine” and presented at the American College of Cardiology conference in Washington, DC.