Repatha reduces the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization in adults with established cardiovascular disease
Image: Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, US. Photo: Courtesy of Coolcaesar/Wikipedia.
US-based biopharmaceutical firm Amgen has unveiled new analysis from FOURIER study, designed to evaluate the effectiveness of Repatha (evolocumab) in patients who suffered a myocardial infarction (MI) recently.
The analysis demonstrated that patients, who experienced MI in less than one year, are prone to a higher risk of cardiovascular (CV) events, compared to patients who faced an MI over a year ago.
Also, patients treated with Repatha after one year after experiencing MI showed 25% reduced risk for experiencing a heart attack, stroke or CV death, compared to 15% reduction in patients who experienced MI more than a year ago.
FOURIER executive committee member and Harvard Medical School professor Robert Giugliano said: “Nearly 1 in 5 patients will have a recurrent CV event during the first year after a heart attack which makes that year a critical time for high-risk patients.
“These results demonstrate the importance of intensive lipid-lowering therapy in the first year following a heart attack and provide additional evidence that evolocumab significantly reduces CV risk and improves outcomes for high-risk patients.”
Repatha is a human monoclonal antibody that binds to PCSK9
The FOURIER outcomes study has enrolled 5,711 patients, who experienced an MI within one to 12 months and were compared to 16,609 patients who experienced an MI in more than 12 months ago, to evaluate the efficacy of Repatha.
Repatha is a human monoclonal antibody that binds to the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), to prevent it from binding to the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDLR). It prevents PCSK9-mediated LDLR degradation, and allows LDLR to recycle back to the liver cell surface.
Amgen said that the FOURIER study is part of its program to reduce LDL-C and cardiovascular outcomes following inhibition of PCSK9 in different populations (PROFICIO) program.
The primary endpoints of the study include CV death, MI, stroke, unstable angina or coronary revascularisation, and the key secondary endpoints include CV death, MI or stroke.
Amgen global medical senior vice president and chief medical officer Darryl Sleep said: “Far too many patients remain at risk of another CV event because they are not managing one of the most important modifiable risk factors for a heart attack: high LDL-C2.
“These data demonstrate the important role cardiologists play in closely monitoring and managing LDL-C in high-risk patients, and support recent professional guideline recommendations that call for more intensive reduction of LDL-C to lower the risk of future CV events in high-risk patients.”