Adults see cholesterol cut to baby’s level by new Pac-Man-like drug

LONDON — A new drug can help return adult cholesterol to levels more likely to be seen in a baby, significantly reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

It has been nicknamed the “Pac-Man drug” because it “gobbles up” protein in the blood that prevents the liver from mopping up so-called bad cholesterol.

Alirocumab could be among the most important drug developments to tackle bad cholesterol since statins were introduced, said Professor Kausik Ray, who is leading the drug’s trial in Britain.

In more than a third of people already taking cholesterol-lowering statins, Alirocumab all but eliminated dangerous blood fats called lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, a global study of almost 2,400 people found. This significantly reduced their risk of suffering heart attacks and strokes.

In people unable to take statins, Alirocumab halved LDL cholesterol.

“Alirocumab, when used alongside a statin, will dramatically lower cholesterol,” said Prof Kausik Ray.

“Around 40 per cent of people who took it saw their levels reduce to that of a newborn.

“It is likely to reduce your risk of heart disease as it will lower LDL cholesterol; however, these are still adult bodies. The risk isn’t going to be abolished. People are not going to be immortal.”

He described the drug as working “a bit like a Pac-Man”, a reference to the eighties arcade game where the PacMan character travels round a maze eating pellets. “It gobbles up PCSK9,” he said. This is a protein that prevents the liver from using up LDL cholesterol.

A total of 2,338 patients who had suffered a heart attack or stroke, or were at risk of increased cholesterol, took part in Ray’s trial.

Of these, 788 were given a placebo and 1,550 given Alirocumab and a statin.

Participants injected the drug bimonthly.

More than a third of the 1,550 saw their levels of LDL cholesterol fall to less than 0.7 millimoles per litre of blood within a year.

This is the same level as a baby, Ray said.

“It is the biggest reduction we’ve had since statins were introduced,” he added, explaining that trials were ongoing.