From 2021 'super-drugs' that halve cholesterol

In Italy, every year, more than 224,000 people die from cardiovascular diseases: of these, just under 50,000 are attributable to failure to control cholesterol.

Of the more than one million highest-risk patients, more than 8 out of 10 have cholesterol values ​​higher than those of the European guidelines.

A health problem that is likely to worsen even for routine checks that are skipped due to the Covid-19 pandemic but which could be reduced thanks to the arrival of innovative drugs, able to control too high cholesterol levels even in patients who fail doing it with statins.

This is what emerges from the congress of Sic, the Italian Society of Cardiology, during which the two new molecules were announced that will be available in Italy as early as 2021 thanks to their effectiveness recorded in two studies already published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A drug, in fact, based on small interfering RNAs, determines a 54% reduction in LDL cholesterol (known as the 'bad' one) thanks to two subcutaneous injections a year and does not bring any side effects on the liver and kidneys.

    The other is bempedoic acid, which reduces LDL by about 20% without causing muscle pain as statins can.

These drugs, by inhibiting the RNA that activates it, block the production of Pcsk9, a protein involved in the transport and destruction of cholesterol receptors on the surface of liver cells.

"The reduction of blood cholesterol levels in high-risk patients is an important public health goal that in the future could reduce mortality from cardiovascular events, saving 10,000 lives", explain Ciro Indolfi, Sic president, and Pasquale Perrone Filardi, Sic president-elect.

"Cholesterol is one of the most important cardiovascular risk factors, responsible for 47,000 deaths a year with health costs reaching 16 billion euros for direct and indirect costs. Keeping the level of 'bad' cholesterol lower reduces the risks of heart attack and stroke and the resulting mortality ", comments Indolfi.

For Perrone Filardi, "more than one million Italians are at very high risk of cardiovascular events, of which only 20% reach the objectives recommended by international guidelines which have lowered the reference values ​​below 55 mg / dl".