For people with diabetes but no major heart artery disease, adding a drug called evolocumab to their cholesterol medicine might lower their chance of dying over five years — 7.8% of those on the drug died, compared to 10.1% on a placebo.

For people with diabetes who are at high heart risk but don’t yet have serious artery disease, adding a drug called evolocumab to their cholesterol medicine (statin) cuts their chance of having a first heart attack, stroke, or heart-related death by about a third over nearly 5 years.

For people with diabetes who are at high heart risk but don’t yet have major artery blockages, adding a drug called evolocumab to their usual cholesterol medicine cuts their chance of heart attack, stroke, or heart-related death by about a third over nearly 5 years.

For people with diabetes who don’t have serious artery disease, adding a drug called evolocumab to their usual cholesterol medicine lowers bad cholesterol a lot — down to 52, compared to 111 without it — after a year.

For people with heart disease who are on cholesterol-lowering drugs, adding a drug called evolocumab doesn’t raise their risk of serious side effects like diabetes or memory problems — the only real downside is a slightly higher chance of soreness at the injection site.

For people with heart disease who are already taking cholesterol-lowering statins but still have high LDL, adding a drug called evolocumab can lower their chances of having a heart attack, stroke, or other serious heart problems by about 15% over two years.