The ‘slam dunk’ that wasn’t: Promising cholesterol drug fails to prevent heart attacks or stroke

Detailed summary

The drug, Novartis’ pelacarsen, should have worked against lipoprotein(a), a genetic type of cholesterol that causes plaque to build up in arteries, researchers said. Why didn’t it?

An experimental drug that held great promise in driving down a dangerous form of cholesterol didn’t show any measurable impact on heart attack or stroke in a clinical trial. The failure of the Novartis drug pelacarsen to help people who have high levels of lipoprotein(a) stunned researchers, who called it a massive blow to preventive cardiology.

Results of the clinical trial of pelacarsen, an injection, presented Saturday at a meeting of the American Heart Association, found there were zero decreases in stroke, heart attack, cardiovascular deaths or the number of procedures to open blocked arteries or restore blood flow to the heart.

“I really thought that this was going to be a slam dunk,” said Dr. Amanda Doran, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiovascular medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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