Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly’s experimental vaccine-like drug slashed a risk factor for heart disease by a whopping 94% for almost a year, according to a report.
Findings from the phase 1 trial with Eli Lilly’s lepodisiran drug found that the highest dose reduced a heart disease-linked protein — which functions similarly to LDL, known as “bad cholesterol” — to undetectable levels for 48 weeks, Bloomberg reported.
Within the first two weeks, that protein — Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a) — was reduced by the top dose of lepodisiran by as much as 96%, the first-in-human study showed.
The trial participants then maintained levels more than 94% below the baseline for the following 48 weeks.
The stunning results from lepodisiran, which is administered as an annual shot similar to a once-a-year flu vaccine, raises hope for people whose genetic makeup puts them at high risk for heart disease, Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steve Nissen, who led the study, told Bloomberg.
No thanks. No more experimental drugs, please!