{"id":110530,"date":"2025-05-18T02:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T02:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/110530\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T02:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T02:01:11","slug":"new-cholesterol-lowering-pill-offers-hope-for-patients-who-cannot-take-statins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/110530\/","title":{"rendered":"New cholesterol-lowering pill offers hope for patients who cannot take statins"},"content":{"rendered":"

By EMILY STEARN<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 17:30 EDT, 17 May 2025 | Updated: 17:32 EDT, 17 May 2025 <\/p>\n

A new cholesterol-lowering pill that drives down the risk of heart attacks and stroke could transform the treatment of patients who cannot take statins due to debilitating side effects.<\/p>\n

Experimental drug obicetrapib cut levels of \u2018bad\u2019 cholesterol by almost a third in just three months in a new trial.<\/p>\n

And scientists from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio<\/a> found it was even more effective taken in combination with a commonly prescribed drug ezetimibe, reducing by half the amount of harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.<\/p>\n

LDL is most closely linked with heart disease \u2013 one of the UK\u2019s biggest causes of death.<\/p>\n

Six out of 10 adults have higher than normal levels while five million take statins to keep down their cholesterol \u2013 but this does not work for everyone.<\/p>\n

The obicetrapib study, published in The Lancet, revealed how researchers tracked 407 patients aged 68 on average. All were considered high-risk with LDL cholesterol levels above 4mmol\/L despite taking medication or being intolerant to statins. NHS<\/a> guidelines recommend keeping LDL below this threshold.<\/p>\n

Over a follow-up of 84 days, researchers found among those who took the two drugs in combination, patients experienced a 48.6 per cent greater reduction in LDL cholesterol compared with the placebo. They also saw a 27.9 per cent greater reduction than with ezetimibe alone and 16.8 per cent more than with obicetrapib alone.<\/p>\n

When used on its own, obicetrapib lowered LDL cholesterol by 31.9 per cent compared with placebo.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A new cholesterol-lowering pill that drives down the risk of heart attacks and stroke could transform the treatment of patients who cannot take statins due to debilitating side effects<\/p>\n

Preventive cardiologist Dr Ashish Sarraju, who led the Cleveland Clinic study, said: \u2018We need to give patients and their doctors all the options.<\/p>\n

\u2018In higher-risk patients, you want to get LDL down as quickly as possible and keep it there as long as possible.\u2019<\/p>\n

Obicetrapib manufacturer NewAmsterdam Pharma stated that it expects to seek approval from regulators \u2018over the course of the year\u2019.<\/p>\n

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