New Drug an Option for Statin-Intolerant Patients
Statins are the first choice of drugs to lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular events that accompanies it. But a certain percentage of patients suffer muscle-related side effects from statins and discontinue taking them. Results of a 14,000-patient international clinical trial known as CLEAR Outcomes, presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Annual Scientific Sessions and simultaneously published online March 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that bempedoic acid (Nexletol™) may be an effective substitute in these individuals. In this trial, bempedoic acid lowered LDL cholesterol by 21% and the risk of a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), a composite of cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke and revascularization, by 19% in statin-intolerant patients. Because bempedoic acid is activated in the liver but not in the peripheral tissues, it causes few muscle-related events. In fact, the percentage of patients reporting muscle issues from taking bempedoic acid was almost identical to that of placebo takers.
