Does adding a new cholesterol shot help people with heart disease?
Evolocumab and Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Further LDL lowering helps even when baseline levels are already low.
Doctors used to believe that once LDL was under 70 mg/dL, no more benefit could come from lowering it further. This study proves otherwise.
Practical Takeaways
If you have heart disease and are on statins but still have LDL over 70 mg/dL, ask your doctor about PCSK9 inhibitors like evolocumab.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Further LDL lowering helps even when baseline levels are already low.
Doctors used to believe that once LDL was under 70 mg/dL, no more benefit could come from lowering it further. This study proves otherwise.
Practical Takeaways
If you have heart disease and are on statins but still have LDL over 70 mg/dL, ask your doctor about PCSK9 inhibitors like evolocumab.
Publication
Journal
The New England Journal of Medicine
Year
2017
Authors
M. Sabatine, R. Giugliano, A. Keech, Narimon Honarpour, S. Wiviott, S. Murphy, J. Kuder, Huei Wang, Thomas Liu, S. Wasserman, P. Sever, T. Pedersen
Related Content
Claims (6)
Adding a drug called evolocumab to cholesterol-lowering statins can lower the chances of serious heart problems by 20% in people who already have heart disease.
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 heart disease who are already taking cholesterol-lowering drugs but still have high bad cholesterol, adding a drug called evolocumab can cut their risk of heart attack, stroke, or dying from heart problems by 20% over about two years.
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 pills, adding a drug called evolocumab can slash their bad cholesterol by about 60% in less than a year—bringing it down to very low levels.