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,...

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 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 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.

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.