Testing A New Experimental Drug To Raise Good Cholesterol Level

Testing A New Experimental Drug To Raise Good Cholesterol Level.
An conjectural medication that raises HDL, or "good," cholesterol seems to have passed an opening hurdle by proving safe in preliminary trials. Although the trial was primarily designed to manner at safety, researchers scheduled to present the finding Wednesday at the American Heart Association's annual session in Chicago also report that anacetrapib raised HDL cholesterol by 138 percent and abstract LDL, HDL's evil twin, almost in half. "We saw very encouraging reductions in clinical events," said Dr Christopher Cannon, prima donna author of the study, which also appears in the Nov 18, 2010 outcome of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A big study to verify the results would take four to five years to complete so the drug is still years away from market, said Cannon, who is a cardiologist with Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Other experts are intrigued by the findings, but note that the probe is still in very betimes stages. "There are a lot of people in the prevention/lipid field that are simultaneously excited and leery," said Dr Howard Weintraub, clinical commander of the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

Added Dr John C LaRosa, president of the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in New York City: "It's very initial but it's respected because the finish drug out of the barrel of this class was not a success. This looks like a better drug, but it's not definitive by any means. Don't deliver this to the bank".

LaRosa was referring to torcetrapib, which, like anacetrapib, belongs to the class of drugs known as cholesterol ester transport protein (CETP) inhibitors. A large annoyance on torcetrapib was killed after investigators found an increased risk of death and other cardiovascular outcomes. "I would be more vehement about anacetrapib if I hadn't seen what happened to its cousin torcetrapib," Weintraub said. "Torcetrapib raised HDL astoundingly but that was fully neutralized by the increase in cardiovascular events".

In the new trial, anacetrapib as a matter of fact showed a tendency toward fewer cardiovascular problems and fewer angioplasty or bypass procedures, although the contemplation only lasted 18 months. It also didn't result in the blood pressure increases that helped termination torcetrapib.

To assess the safety of the trial, investigators randomly chose 1623 adults with coronary love disease who were taking cholesterol-lowering statins to receive either anacetrapib or a placebo for 18 months. At the end of six months, LDL cholesterol was avoid 81 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of blood to 45 mg/dl, a reduction of about 40 percent. In the placebo group, LDL levels only declined from 82 mg/dl to 77 mg/dl.

Meanwhile, HDL levels increased from 41 mg/dl of blood to 101 mg/dl in the therapy arm, versus a trifling elevation from 40 mg/dl to 46 mg/dl in the placebo group. "We have 94 percent certitude that this narcotize doesn't have the harmful effect that torcetrapib had, but we didn't prove a reduction in events," said Brigham and Women's Cannon. "That will be the above of a larger study".

Such a study is in the works, he added. Dr Neil Coplan, manager of clinical cardiology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, stressed that this was a "safety trial, not a headache which is saying in any way that kin should take these medications nor are the drugs approved". Still, he added, "the trial demonstrated protection and it demonstrated a tremendous effect on altering the lipid profile in a good direction. It's very encouraging but, as the authors note themselves, it's a first step".

Experts are still divided as to whether raising HDL levels will really result in any meaningful improvements in clinical outcomes. "Currently, we're not convinced that manipulation of HDL matters, though certainly it's promising," said Weintraub, who added that results should be obtainable comparatively soon from other trials exploring the issue. "The fact that LDL was also reduced also makes it promising". "We've never been able to satisfactorily expose that raising HDL actually changes risk," added LaRosa ohhiras. The only knock out currently available to raise HDL is nyacin.