Drug ‘helps statins to cut heart attack risk’

A POWERFUL new cholesterol drug could save lives by reducing the risk of heart attacks, landmark research suggests.

The injectable medication, usually taken alongside statins, cuts heart attack danger by an extra quarter, the study indicated.

The research found patients treated with Repatha were 27% likely to have a heart attack over two years than if they had been taking statins alone – and 21% less likely to have a stroke.

The results are rooted in the drug’s ability to cut levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol, which furs arteries and causes heart problems.

Trials showed that Repatha, when taken alongside statins, reduced levels of cholesterol by 60% more than taking statins alone. Experts said the findings were the most important since the first statins trials two decades ago.

Excitement about Repatha – also called evolocumab – has been building in the past three years, with scientists predicting it could ‘switch off’ heart disease. But that was based on early studies that showed the drug could merely reduce cholesterol and stop furring of arteries.

More cautious doctors insisted they needed proof that it prevents heart attacks and strokes.

The latest trial, involving 27,500 patients and led by Harvard Medical School in the US and Imperial College London, provides that evidence.

It shows that for every 74 people given the drug for two years with statins, one heart attack, stroke or death would be prevented.

Professor Peter Sever of Imperial College London, whose results were presented to the American College of Cardiology yesterday, said: ‘This is one of the most important trials of cholesterol-lowering since the first statin trial published 20 years ago.

‘Our results suggest this new, extremely potent class of drug can cut cholesterol dramatically, which could provide great benefit for a lot of people at risk of heart disease and stroke.’

The study, in the New England Journal of Medicine, tested Repatha on patients in 49 countries.

Patients took either statins alone, or Repatha with their statins. Those who took both were less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than if they took statins alone.

The benefits increased over time, with patients who took the combined treatments roughly 19% less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke in their first year, and 33% in the second. These results were seen even in those who began with low cholesterol levels. There were no additional side effects beyond those seen with statins alone.

Harvard’s Dr Marc Sabatine, who led the trial, said high cholesterol must be treated ‘more aggressively, and now we have a new validated means to do so’.

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said the trial was a ‘significant advance’.

Sean Harper of Amgen, which makes Repatha, said it was ‘a gamechanger for high-risk patients’.

‘A significant advance’