A cholesterol-lowering pill is a new type of drug, bempedoic acid, could offer another weapon in the fight against bad cholesterol. An international study suggests the pill lowers cholesterol in people who continue to have high levels despite taking other drugs such as statins.
Scientists suggest that the pill may also work as an alternative for people who are unable to take statins due to statins’ side effects. This research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers have asked the UK and US drug regulators to consider whether to approve the pill.
Cardiovascular disease kills around 150,000 people in the UK each year. Bad cholesterol is one of the main reasons, it leads to blood vessels to clog and become easy to block. Blockages can be fatal due to it starving the heart or brain of oxygen and causing strokes and heart attacks. Cutting out saturated fat and having a healthy diet along with regular exercise can help lower bad cholesterol however, this does not work of everyone. For some genetic conditions increase their cholesterol levels. Millions of people around the world are prescribed drugs, mostly statins, to reduce the levels of the bad cholesterol in their bloodstream.
The new drug works by blocking a key enzyme in the body which is used to make cholesterol.
Prof Sir Nilesh Samani, of the British Heart Foundation charity, says: “On the whole, statins do a great job of lowering cholesterol. However, this new drug could provide real benefit for the few people who can’t take them or require additional treatments to get it to the right level.
“The research suggests that it has the potential to reduce risk of heart attacks and strokes without major side-effects.”
The study involved 2,230 people who had cardiovascular disease or a genetic cholesterol condition and who were already on cholesterol lowering drugs. 1,488 of them were given the pill of bempedoic acid every day for a year on top of their usual medication. The 742 others were given a placebo or dummy pill. After three months of the trail the group who had taken the new pill had cut their bad cholesterol by 17% compared to the ones with the dummy pill.
Prof Kausik Ray, from Imperial College London, says: “Bempedoic acid could be another addition to the arsenal of cholesterol lowering treatments available to patients.
“What we have is a new class of drug that could be given to patients who are already taking statins and could help them further reduce their cholesterol levels and thus potentially cut their risk of heart attacks and strokes.”
Just like every drug, the new pill has side effects. Researches said the rate of side effects were similar between the two groups, one side effect that people on bempedoic acid experienced was gout. More people stopped taking the new pill because of the side effects compared to the dummy pill group. Researchers have said the new pill only works in the liver and cannot reach the muscles.
Studies suggest that bempedoic acid can lower bad cholesterol but it is not known how long for or whether it will definitely translate into fewer heart attacks and strokes. Professor Jane Armitage described the results as promising.
Prof Armitage added: “Genetic studies cannot tell us whether the drug will be safe for a wide range of people.”
