Kausik Ray, MD: Promising New Cholesterol Lowering Agents

A pair of new therapies have emerged that could be crucial in treating patients who do not respond to or tolerate statin therapy as a cholesterol lowering agent—bempedoic acid and PCSK9 siRNA (inclisiran).

During the 18th World Congress of Insulin Resistance Diabetes & Cardiovascular (WCIRDC) Online CME Conference presented by the Metabolic Institute of America (TMIOA), Kausik Ray, MD, a professor of Public Health at the School of Public Health of Imperial College London presented new data showing the benefits of these new treatments.

Currently, bempedoic acid is currently approved in Europe and the US, making it the first cholesterol lowering oral agent approved in approximately 10 years.

However, inclisiran represents an entirely new class of drugs that targets a process called gene silencing. Ray expects this treatment to be available in both North America and Europe in 2021.

Ray explained in an interview with HCPLive®, how exactly these drugs work, what the current data says about their efficacy and safety, and how these drugs might be used in the future.

Ray said the importance of having new options available to reduce cholesterol is that many patients could need significant reduction in cholesterol, meaning combining therapies could be the right approach for many.