- Researchers are reporting that two new treatments can effectively target cholesterol at the genetic level.
- Both treatments are aimed at people with a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol for whom diet and exercise aren’t effective.
- Experts note that both treatments need more research and likely won’t be ready for approval for years.
Two promising new clinical trials aimed at the genetics of cholesterol were unveiled this week at the American Heart Association’s
Both drugs, designed to drive down unhealthy levels of cholesterol were shown to be effective and safe, their creators said.
The medications target people born with a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol, increasing the user’s odds of heart attacks and stroke.
Current tools to manage high cholesterol include exercise, diet, and statin medications. These two new drugs would be the first to go after the genetic cause of high cholesterol.
However, neither will hit the market anytime soon, as both will require years of more research before being approved for consumers.
Nonetheless, experts say the results are encouraging.
“The new studies… are really a groundbreaking change in the world of cardiovascular medicine,” said Dr. Spencer Kroll, a physician with the Kroll Medical Group and the Cholesterol Treatment Center in New Jersey and a director of the Northeast Lipid Association.
“Even though they’re in early-stage clinical trials, these studies represent that cholesterol management and cardiovascular disease treatment is a multimodal and individualized process,” Kroll, who was not involved in the research, told Medical News Today. “We are now entering the realm of cholesterol therapy that moves away from the one-size-fits-all statin treatment to therapies that are personalized to the individual patient.”
It’s given through an IV and targets the…
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