A pill that helps lower bad cholesterol even more in people who already take statins
Efficacy and Safety of Oral PCSK9 Inhibitor Enlicitide in Adults With Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some people have very high bad cholesterol because of their genes. Even when they take cholesterol pills like statins, their levels stay too high. This study tested a new pill called enlicitide to see if it helps lower cholesterol even more.
Surprising Findings
Enlicitide significantly reduced lipoprotein(a) by 27.5% in just 24 weeks.
Lipoprotein(a) is a genetically driven risk factor that is notoriously resistant to most lipid-lowering therapies, including statins. Large reductions are rare and considered a major breakthrough.
Practical Takeaways
People with familial hypercholesterolemia who aren’t reaching cholesterol goals on statins may benefit from emerging oral PCSK9 inhibitors like enlicitide.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some people have very high bad cholesterol because of their genes. Even when they take cholesterol pills like statins, their levels stay too high. This study tested a new pill called enlicitide to see if it helps lower cholesterol even more.
Surprising Findings
Enlicitide significantly reduced lipoprotein(a) by 27.5% in just 24 weeks.
Lipoprotein(a) is a genetically driven risk factor that is notoriously resistant to most lipid-lowering therapies, including statins. Large reductions are rare and considered a major breakthrough.
Practical Takeaways
People with familial hypercholesterolemia who aren’t reaching cholesterol goals on statins may benefit from emerging oral PCSK9 inhibitors like enlicitide.
Publication
Journal
JAMA
Year
2025
Authors
Christie M. Ballantyne, Laura A Gellis, J. Tardif, Puja Banka, A. Navar, E. A. Asprusten, Russell Scott, E. Stroes, Samar Froman, G. Mendizabal, Fan Wang, A. Catapano
Related Content
Claims (5)
For adults with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already on cholesterol meds, taking a pill called enlicitide every day for 6 months might drastically lower a key heart disease risk protein in their blood.
For people with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already on cholesterol pills, taking a new drug called enlicitide every day for 6 months might slash their bad cholesterol way more than just the usual treatment alone.
For people with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already on cholesterol meds, taking a pill called enlicitide every day for a year keeps their bad cholesterol way down — cutting it by more than half — while those not taking it see their levels go up.
For adults with a genetic cholesterol problem and already taking statins, adding a pill called enlicitide every day for 6 months slashed bad cholesterol levels by over half, while a fake pill barely changed anything.
For adults with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already taking cholesterol pills, adding a daily 20 mg pill called enlicitide for 6 months cuts a harmful type of blood fat (lipoprotein(a)) by about a quarter—way more than a dummy pill does.