A pioneering new medication can slash ‘bad’ cholesterol in just one treatment, a breakthrough study has found.
Experts say that the gene therapy could prove ‘transformative’ for patients by preventing future heart attacks or strokes.
The single infusion drug was shown to reduce cholesterol, the fatty plaque that raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes, by 60 per cent in 18 months, according to research published by drug firm Eli Lilly.
Over seven million people in the UK are currently taking medications to help lower their cholesterol, such as statins.
However research shows that up to half of patients stop taking their cholesterol medication within a year of starting – often because they find it hard taking a daily pill or because of side effects.
Studies show that many Britons are also unaware that they have high cholesterol, which can occur due to poor diet, lack of exercise as well as smoking and drinking.
It’s thought that six out of ten British adults have dangerously raised cholesterol, which is responsible for many of the 170,000 cardiovascular deaths in the UK every year.
The new US trial gave 35 adults with an inherited form of very high cholesterol or suffered from a heart attack at a young age the new gene therapy drug called VERVE-102.
Given to patients by a single transfusion, at the highest dose the therapy reduced LDL, or ‘bad’, cholesterol by up to 62 per cent.
The researchers followed up patients after 18 months, and the lower cholesterol levels were sustained.
The trial gave 35 adults – with an inherited form of very high cholesterol or suffered from a heart attack at a young age – the new gen therapy drug VERVE-102.
The phase 1 trial results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Atherosclerosis Society Congress in Athens.
Professor Riyaz Patel, consultant cardiologist at Barts Health NHS Trust and professor of cardiology at University College London, and the trial’s local lead, said: ‘It is still early days but this is an extremely exciting milestone. These findings show the technology works, is safe and helps lower cholesterol to levels similar to medicines we currently have.
‘The therapy has the potential to provide a “one and done” approach to a very common condition, which would be transformative in preventing heart attacks and strokes over the long term.’
The new therapy works by disabling a gene which is vital in the production of bad cholesterol in the liver.
One of the patients taking part in the trial is 41-year-old Daniel Cullinane, who suffers from genetically high cholesterol, discovered after his father passed away at an early age.
Despite being prescribed statins, Daniel’s cholesterol remained high.
‘I was referred to the team at Barts which led me to being put on the trial,’ says Daniel.
‘My cholesterol levels have now dropped, I have lost weight and I feel a lot healthier.’
The latest breakthrough comes as a landmark report found women are more likely to face delays in the diagnosis of heart disease and – as a result – are more likely to die.
A team of international scientists led by the European Society of Cardiology are now calling for dedicated women’s heart centres across Europe to address the inequality.
‘Heart disease kills more women than any other condition – three in ten women globally – yet it remains critically underdiagnosed and undertreated,’ said Dr Julia Grapsa, the report’s lead author.
A study of more than 1,300 high-risk women in the US found a six-month programme combining heart health advice with clinical guidelines set by the American Heart Association – on blood pressure, diet and exercise – helped reduce their risk of suffering a major heart event.
