Cholesterol drug shows promise to help reverse heart disease

Cholesterol drug shows promise to help reverse heart disease

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For the first time, a new drug given along with a cholesterol-lowering statin medicine has proved able to shrink plaque that is clogging arteries, potentially giving a way to undo some of the damage of heart disease.

In the study, about 900 heart disease patients were given a strong statin and monthly shots of either Repatha or a dummy solution.

The best test of the new drugs' value will be large studies underway now to see whether drops in cholesterol will lead to fewer heart attacks and deaths.

[...] at the conference, doctors gave results of a safety study of an experimental treatment aimed at rapidly removing cholesterol after a heart attack to help prevent a second one.

An earlier version showed side effects on the liver; this one was modified to try to avoid that, and no safety roadblocks were seen, said Gibson, who consults for the treatment's maker, CSL Behring.