New Drugs Lower LDL, May Protect Heart

A new type of drug lowers cholesterol and may also reduce heart attack and stroke rates, study results show. The 2 new studies look at drugs known as monoclonal antibodies. Both of the study drugs work by shutting down a protein in the liver. The larger study included 4,465 people. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group got injections of evolocumab every 2 weeks or every month. People also got standard treatment to lower LDL (“bad cholesterol”). Usually this was a statin drug. The other group got standard treatment only. In the next year, LDL fell 61% more in the evolocumab group than in the standard-treatment group. About 2% of the statin-only group died or had a heart attack, stroke or related event during the study. The rate was 1% in the group taking the new drug. The other study included 2,341 people.