Taking certain cholesterol drugs called evolocumab or alirocumab may help lower the chance of heart problems, whether you've already had heart issues or are just trying to prevent them.

A drug called Evolocumab helps lower the chance of serious heart problems like heart attacks and strokes in people at high risk — and it seems to work pretty well over about 8 months.

A drug called alirocumab may help prevent serious heart problems and even lower the chance of dying from heart disease in people at high risk — but we’re still not totally sure about the life-extending effects because the data is limited.

For people with serious heart disease who are already taking cholesterol-lowering pills, adding one of two special drugs (evolocumab or alirocumab) can lower their chances of having a major heart problem—like a heart attack—by about 15% over a few years.

For people with diabetes or clogged arteries who haven’t had a heart attack or stroke yet, taking a drug called evolocumab every two weeks can lower their chance of having a first heart attack, stroke, or heart-related death by about 25% over nearly 5 years.

For people with heart disease who are already taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, adding a medicine called evolocumab can lower their chance of having a heart attack, stroke, or other serious heart problems by about 15% over two years.