Evaluation of the Potential Role of Alirocumab in the Management of Hypercholesterolemia in Patients with High‐Risk Cardiovascular Disease

A high level of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) has proved to have a positive correlation with mortality from cardiovascular disease, and it is the key modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Lowering levels of LDL‐C with statins reduces both vascular morbidity and mortality; however, myalgias occur in 10% to 15% of patients, and many patients managed with statins achieve suboptimal levels of LDL‐C. The injectable drug alirocumab—the first of a new class of drugs called proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors—is a monoclonal antibody to the PCSK9 gene, which regulates LDL receptor expression and circulating levels of LDL‐C. In this review, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of alirocumab and its potential role in the management of patients with high‐risk cardiovascular disease. Data were gathered from articles indexed in the PubMed database (2006–April 2015). All English‐language, prospective, randomized, double‐blinded trials evaluating the efficacy of alirocumab, as a monotherapy or in combination with statins, for treatment of hypercholesterolemia were identified. Five clinical trials were evaluated, and the results from these studies revealed that the use of alirocumab, both as monotherapy or in combination with statins, significantly reduced LDL‐C levels. Patients treated with alirocumab, with or without statins, were more likely to achieve LDL‐C goals of less than 100 or 70 mg/dl compared with ...
Source: Pharmacotherapy: The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Review of Therapeutics Source Type: research