Cholesterol-lowering drug alirocumab can help reduce the risk of having a second heart attack or stroke among patients with heart disease, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.// In a clinical trial involving 18,924 patients from 57 countries who had suffered a recent heart attack or threatened heart attack, researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and fellow scientists around the world have found that the cholesterol-lowering drug alirocumab reduced the chance of having additional heart problems or stroke.
‘Cholesterol-lowering drug alirocumab can help reduce the chance of having additional heart problems and stroke among heart attack survivors.’
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Alirocumab is in the class of drugs called PCSK9 antibodies.Read More..
"It works by increasing receptors on the liver that attract particles of LDL cholesterol from the blood and break them down. The result is that blood levels of LDL or 'bad' cholesterol decrease by approximately 50 percent, even when patients are already taking a statin," explained Gregory Schwartz MD, Ph.D., co-author of the study and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
The trial looked at patients who were at least 40-years-old, had been hospitalized with a heart attack or threatened heart attack (unstable angina), and had levels of LDL cholesterol of at least 70 mg per deciliter despite taking high doses of statins.
Half of the patients received alirocumab by self-injection under the skin every two weeks, and the other half received placebo injections. The patients were followed for an average of nearly three years.
During that time, LDL cholesterol levels averaged 40 to 66 mg per deciliter in patients given alirocumab, compared with 93 to 103 mg per deciliter with placebo. Death from coronary heart disease, another heart attack or an episode of unstable angina, or a stroke occurred in 903 patients given alirocumab, compared with 1052 patients given the placebo, corresponding to a 15 percent reduction in risk.
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In the trial, alirocumab was safe and generally well-tolerated. The only common side effect with alirocumab was itching, redness, or swelling at the injection site which was usually mild. It occurred in 3.8 percent of those given alirocumab, compared with 2.1 percent of patients who received the placebo.
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Source-Eurekalert