- A major study finds that the drug Nexletol, often used as a supplement for low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-lowering statins, is effective—to a degree—in its own right.
- While the effect of bempedoic acid—the main ingredient in Nexletol— is less strong than statins, the study validates the drug as a therapeutic option for people who are intolerant of statins.
- Bempedoic acid is most likely to be prescribed in combination with ezetimibe, another supplemental LDL-lowering drug, that will strengthen its effect.
For people with high LDL cholesterol, statins are considered the first medication of choice. When statins alone do not adequately lower LDL levels, they may be supplemented with other drugs. It is also the case that some people do not tolerate, or are wary of, statins.
A large new study investigates the value of one of the supplementary LDL-lowering drugs, bempedoic acid, when used on its own without statins.
While bempedoic acid alone is not as effective as statins, it does significantly reduce the incidence of heart attacks and other events, offering patients a non-statin therapeutic alternative.
The double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 32 countries at 1,250 sites. It involved 13,970 people who were unable or unwilling to take statins due to adverse effects, or who were at high risk of cardiovascular disease.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first received Nexletol, a pill form of bempedoic acid (N=6992), and the second a placebo (N=6978). The participants were followed for approximately 3.5 years.
Compared to those who received a placebo, participants who received bempedoic acid had a 13% lower risk of major cardiac events.
They were also 23% less likely to have heart attacks and 19% fewer surgical interventions for unclogging arteries. Bempedoic acid had no significant effects on the incidence of death from any cause, which is unexplained.
The efficacy of bempedoic acid was not compared in the study to…
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