Effectiveness of PCSK9 inhibitors in homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia: insights from a Saudi Arabia genetic population

Adding PCSK9 drugs to cholesterol-lowering statins can slash bad cholesterol by as much as 81% in people with high cholesterol.

For people in Saudi Arabia with a rare inherited form of very high cholesterol, taking a drug called Evolocumab once a month didn’t seem to lower their bad cholesterol much — the drop was small and not strong enough to be sure it wasn’t just by chance.

For people in Saudi Arabia with a rare genetic form of very high cholesterol, taking a drug called evolocumab every two weeks seems to lower their bad cholesterol a little bit — not a huge drop, but enough to show it's doing something.

In a group of 37 people in Saudi Arabia with a rare cholesterol condition, the most common gene change was in the LDL receptor, which likely breaks how the body clears bad cholesterol — and this might be common there.

People in Saudi Arabia with a rare cholesterol condition don’t seem to lower their bad cholesterol as much with a certain drug as other people did in past studies — and it might be because of their genes or how the treatment is used in real clinics.