–Harvard researchers received sugar industry money to write a NEJM review. Newly uncovered documents reveal that 50 years ago the sugar industry gave secret support to prominent Harvard researchers to write an influential series of articles in the New England Journal of Medicine that downplayed the negative effects of sugar. Instead, the articles shifted the blame…
The Twitter Debate Over Cholesterol Screening In Kids
August 11, 2016 by 1 Comment
–Cardiologists discuss the screening controversy in 140 characters or less. My recent post on the debate over cholesterol screening in children provoked a fascinating discussion on Twitter, including comments from several highly knowledgeable experts and clinicians. The discussion started when James Stein, a preventive cardiologist at the University of Wisconsin), tweeted: Lipid screening in kids….
Experts Disagree About Cholesterol Screening In Kids
August 10, 2016 by 3 Comments
(Updated) –Lack of evidence leads to major disagreement over guidelines. Once again the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has performed an invaluable— and almost certainly thankless— service. In a series of papers published in JAMA and Annals of Internal Medicine the USPSTF states unequivocally that there is no good high quality evidence to evaluate…
Repatha Approved for Single Monthly Injection
July 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
–New hands-free system replaces three sequential shots The FDA has approved a device that can deliver a single monthly injection of evolocumab (Repatha), the cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 inhibitor manufactured by Amgen. Repatha is currently administered by subcutaneous injection in a 140-mg dose every 2 weeks or as a 420 mg monthly dose. Until now, the monthly…
FDA Places Roadblock On Approval Path Of Novel Cholesterol Drug
June 30, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Could this be the end of LDL as a surrogate? A possible shift in policy at the FDA means that a much heralded novel new cholesterol drug won’t reach the US market until 2022 at the earliest. Esperion Therapeutics’ bempedoic acid (formerly known as ETC-1002) had previously been thought to be eligible for approval within…
Study Questions ‘Lower Is Better’ For Cholesterol
June 20, 2016 by 3 Comments
–No added benefit for statin patients who reached very low LDL levels A large observational study suggests that moderate lowering of LDL may be just as effective as intensive lowering. “Our results do not provide support for a blanket principle that lower LDL cholesterol is better for all patients in secondary prevention,” the authors conclude….
Cholesterol Skeptics Launch Another Attack
June 15, 2016 by 8 Comments
–But most experts say their study is highly flawed Once again, a group of cholesterol skeptics has published an inflammatory attack on the cholesterol hypothesis. But critics say that the paper is deeply flawed and should not be used to influence treatment or policy decisions. In a paper published in BMJ Open, Uffe Ravnskov, MD,…
ASGR1 Gene Tied to Heart Health
May 18, 2016 by 1 Comment
(Updated) –May have stronger impact than PCSK9 variants on disease risk A large new study from Iceland has identified variants in a gene that appear to have powerful cardioprotective effects, perhaps an first early step toward a novel therapy for heart disease prevention and treatment. The gene, ASGR1, was identified by the well known genetic…
Not So Rare, FH Is Truly Risky Lipid Disorder
April 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
–Not all elevated is LDL is equally dangerous CHICAGO — Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a condition that has long been overshadowed by more common cardiovascular diagnoses, has now found the spotlight in the big tent as a hot and even controversial topic. The new interest is driven by important advances in understanding the genetics of the…
Recipe For Disaster: The New US Dietary Guidelines
January 18, 2016 by 4 Comments
The science of nutrition is a disaster. For a variety of very good reasons it is nearly impossible to perform high quality, long term randomized controlled trials to provide satisfactory answers to most of the pressing questions of the day. But many experts are convinced they do know the answer to many of these questions….
Rat Study Links Neural Tube Defects To Lower PCSK9 Levels
January 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
(Updated) PCSK9 may play an important role in neural tube development (NTD), a new study in rats suggests. The study, published in Scientific Reports, found that PCSK9 levels were significantly reduced in rat embryos with NTDs. The main focus of the paper was to identify biomarkers that could be used for the prenatal detection of NTDs, since there are now…
First Outcomes Trial Results For PCSK9 Drugs Will Come In 2016
December 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In less than a year we may know a whole lot more about the PCSK9 inhibitors than we do now. Since the approval earlier this year of Repatha (evolocumab, Amgen) and Praluent (alirocumab, Regeneron and Sanofi) critics and benefit managers have recommended strict limitations on use of the drugs because of the absence of evidence showing clinical benefit….
FDA Panel Turns Down Expanded Indication For Ezetimibe
December 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
An FDA advisory panel on Monday voted 10-5 against an expanded indication for Merck’s ezetimibe (Vytorin, Zetia). The current label states that the drugs have not been shown to improve cardiovascular morbidity or mortality. The proposed expanded indication was based on findings from the IMPROVE-IT trial. The panel spent most of the day trying to interpret…
Expect Intellectual Fireworks At FDA Advisory Panel On Ezetimibe
December 10, 2015 by 1 Comment
You can expect a lot of high-powered intellectual fireworks at next Monday’s FDA advisory panel considering Merck’s application to upgrade the indications for Vytorin and Zetia. Both brands contain the cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe, which was studied exhaustively– in many senses of the word– in the IMPROVE-IT trial. The discussion will likely focus on what to do about missing data and how to…
Merck Reveals That Its 30,000 Patient CETP Trial Will Continue
November 13, 2015 by 1 Comment
Despite rumors to the contrary the story of the CETP inhibitors isn’t quite over. Merck today announced that the REVEAL trial will continue. After a series of disappointing and often spectacular failures, REVEAL is the last remaining phase 3 trial of a CETP inhibitor still underway. REVEAL is a 30,000 patient trial studying Merck’s anacetrapib. In the announcement Merck said the…
New Definition Of Familial Hypercholesterolemia Could Expand Patient Population For Expensive Cholesterol Drugs
November 5, 2015 by 4 Comments
More people may be diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) using criteria contained in a new scientific statement published by the American Heart Association. The expanded definition could also mean more patients will be eligible to receive expensive cholesterol-lowering drugs, including the new PCSK9 inhibitor drugs, (Repatha from Amgen and Praluent from Sanofi/Regeneron). But the biggest impact might be to increase the…
More Questions About Nonprofit Groups And Industry Support
October 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In response to my article about commercial funding of nonprofit organizations from the manufacturers of the PCSK9 inhibitors, Joshua Knowles wrote an eloquent and heartfelt defense of the FH Foundation, which receives some funding from industry. But I think he fails to address the fundamental underlying issues I wrote about in my piece. Knowles writes that “FH is a…
Third Strike For CETP Inhibitors: Lilly Halts Big Evacetrapib Trial
October 12, 2015 by 2 Comments
For the third time a large trial testing a CETP inhibitor drug has gone down the tubes. On Monday morning Eli Lilly announced that it had terminated ACCELERATE, its large phase 3 trial of the drug evacetrapib. The company said the trial was stopped “due to insufficient efficacy” and that the company planned to discontinue…
‘Cardiology On A Collision Course With Specialty Pharmaceutical Pricing Models’
October 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The recent approval of two new expensive cholesterol drugs “sets the practice of cardiology on a collision course with specialty pharmaceutical pricing models that were previously reserved for drugs that benefited relatively limited patient populations,” according to the authors of a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Until now cardiologists and other doctors treating the…
New Cholesterol Drugs Gain Entry To Large Formulary
October 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The two big and expensive new cholesterol drugs that everyone is talking about have both been added to the national preferred formulary of Express Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager. The drugs– alirocumab (Praluent, from Regeneron and Sanofi) and evolocumab (Repatha, from Amgen)– are potent but expensive drugs that inhibit PCSK9 and dramatically lower LDL cholesterol. Both drugs…
Report Concludes That PCSK9 Inhibitors Are Effective But Very Expensive
September 8, 2015 by 1 Comment
The new PCSK9 inhibitors– with an annual cost of over $14,000 a year– are far too expensive to be broadly used in eligible populations without restrictions, according to a draft report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). The price of the new drugs would need to fall to nearly $2,000 in order for the drugs to…
No Increase In Diabetes Found With Ezetimibe In IMPROVE-IT
September 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
A new analysis of the IMPROVE-IT trial found no significant increase in the rate of new onset diabetes in patients taking ezetimibe. Michael Blazing of Duke University presented the results of the IMPROVE-IT substudy on Tuesday afternoon at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in London. The analysis was prompted by previous findings from very…
Novel Drug Could Cut LDL With Just 2 Or 4 Shots A Year
August 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
A novel drug still in phase 1 studies could dramatically lower cholesterol with only a few injections each year. Because the drug could be given during regular visits to the doctor it might help solve the thorny problem of drug compliance and adherence. Like the recently approved monoclonal antibodies alirocumab and evolocumab, the drug targets PCSK9 to lower LDL,…
Cholesterol Wars: The Reimbursement Battle Begins
August 28, 2015 by 1 Comment
(Updated) The next stage of the cholesterol wars has officially started. With the recent approval of Repatha (evolocumab, Amgen) and Praluent (alirocumab, Sanofi and Regeneron) the big immediate question everybody wanted answered was how the battle to pay for these expensive drugs (the wholesale acquisition cost is more than $14,000/year for both drugs) would shape…
FDA Approves Repatha, Amgen’s PCSK9 Inhibitor
August 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Late on Thursday Amgen announced that the FDA had approved its highly anticipated and much debated PCSK9 inhibitor, Repatha (evolocumab). The drug will be the second PCSK9 inhibitor on the market, following the approval last month of Sanofi’s and Regeneron’s Praluent (alirocumab). In a press release the FDA said Repatha “is approved for use in addition to diet…
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