PCSK9 inhibitors: a major advance in cholesterol-lowering drug therapy

Every so often a medical advance comes along that rewrites the script for treating a disease or condition. After today’s announcements of impressive results of a new type of cholesterol-lowering drug, that scenario just might happen in the next few years. The new drugs, called PCSK9 inhibitors, are monoclonal antibodies. They target and inactivate a specific protein in the liver. Knocking out this protein, called proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9, dramatically reduces the amount of harmful LDL cholesterol circulating in the bloodstream. Lower LDL translates into healthier arteries and fewer heart attacks, strokes, and other problems related to cholesterol-clogged arteries. If you have high cholesterol, it’s best to try to lower it with a healthy diet like the Mediterranean diet and exercise. The combination of diet and exercise does the trick for some people. Others need help from medicine. Statins have been the first-line drugs for lowering cholesterol since the late 1980s. They’ve been shown to prevent repeat heart attacks in people who have already had one and first heart attacks in a wide range of at-risk individuals. In about one in five people, though, a statin doesn’t lower cholesterol enough. Adding a second drug that lowers cholesterol by a different mechanism doesn’t always help. And some people can’t take a statin because of side effects like muscle pain, liver damage, or the development of diabetes. The results of three c...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Drugs and Supplements Heart Health Medical Research alirocumab cholesterol evolocumab PCSK9 inhibitors Source Type: news