People taking a cholesterol drug called evolocumab had almost twice as many heart failure deaths as those on a dummy pill in one big study, but this wasn’t mentioned in the main report—so scientists are wondering if the drug might actually harm the heart in some ways.

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Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

80

Community contributions welcome

80

Restoring mortality data in the FOURIER cardiovascular outcomes trial of evolocumab in patients with cardiovascular disease: a reanalysis based on regulatory data

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2022 Dec 30

The study found more heart failure deaths in patients taking evolocumab than in those taking a placebo, and this wasn't properly reported before—supporting the claim.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Restoring mortality data in the FOURIER cardiovascular outcomes trial of evolocumab in patients with cardiovascular disease: a reanalysis based on regulatory data

Score: 80

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060172

Similar Assertions

People with heart disease who took a drug called evolocumab had more heart-related deaths than those who took a dummy pill, according to a reanalysis of a major study — but the difference wasn’t quite strong enough to rule out chance.

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86%

Taking a drug called evolocumab can lower the chance of having a first major heart problem by 25% in people at high risk who’ve never had a heart attack or stroke before.

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80

79%

A second look at heart death data from a major drug trial found more heart-related deaths in the treatment group than were first reported, while the placebo group had fewer — suggesting the original study may have missed some key facts.

80

0

75%

Taking a cholesterol drug called evolocumab to get really low LDL levels doesn’t seem to cause serious side effects like memory problems, diabetes, cataracts, or brain bleeds over 3 years, according to a major study.

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72%

Taking certain cholesterol drugs called evolocumab or alirocumab might lower the chance of having a stroke, whether you've already had heart problems or not.

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71%