THOUSAND OAKS (dpa-AFX) - Amgen (AMGN) Tuesday said that, in a clinical trial, evolocumab was found to have the potential to treat hyperlipidemia for patients who cannot control their cholesterol levels.
Evolocumab is said to inhibit a protein that reduces the liver's ability to remove low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as bad cholesterol, from the blood.
'Many patients with high cholesterol struggle to adequately reduce their LDL-C, a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease,' said Michael Koren, M.D., of the Jacksonville Center for Clinical Research.
The 52-week open label study, showed that monthly treatment Evolocumab reduced cholesterol levels up to 52 percent in combination with SOC in patients with high cholesterol, and also prevented major increase in adverse events.
Meanwhile, 81.4 percent of patients showed adverse events including nasopharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infections, influenza, arthralgia, and back pain. Other minor reported events include muscle-problems, elevated liver function, elevated creatine kinase.
An open-label extension study evaluating the long-term safety and efficacy of evolocumab in patients with high cholesterol, is currently ongoing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 71 million American adults have high LDL-C.2 Elevated LDL-C is recognized as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
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