Lipid apheresis reduces average LDL cholesterol by about 40% and average Lp(a) levels by about 25%, lowering the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, strokes, or a peripheral arterial disease (PAD) blockage by 50% to 85%. Among the other benefits include reduced angina, better exercise tolerance, better blood flow to the heart, and better leg-wound recovery among those with PAD

The anti-inflammatory medication colchicine can help reduce coronary soft plaques as seen on on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), according to the late-breaking EKSTROM trial first presented at ACC.25. 

“We did serial CT angiography baseline and one-year follow-up after randomizing patients to 0.5 mg of colchicine daily or placebo. We saw over a 1% reduction in percent atheroma volume in the colchicine group, which mirrors the degree of improvement associated with significant reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events in prior intravascular ultrasound studies,” Matthew J. Budoff, MD, former president of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) and a professor of medicine with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told Cardiovascular Business.

In stable patients with extensive noncalcified plaque volume at baseline, 18 months of evolocumab treatment was associated with a shift toward a lower risk quantitative plaque phenotype and reduction in microcalcification activity.

With its twice-yearly dosing, the siRNA-based drug might lead to better compliance with treatment. Still, cost is an issue.

A fixed-dose oral combination of the CETP inhibitor obicetrapib and ezetimibe lowered LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) levels by nearly 50% at 12 weeks compared with placebo in patients with or at high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in the phase 3 TANDEM study.

“This is the first phase 3 trial evaluating the LDL cholesterol-lowering efficacy of a combination of this investigational CETP inhibitor with the established lipid-lowering drug ezetimibe in the setting of ASCVD,” says the study’s first author, Ashish Sarraju, MD, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who served as principal investigator. The TANDEM results were presented by Cleveland Clinic’s Steven Nissen, MD, chair of the trial’s executive steering committee, at the European Atherosclerosis Society Congress in Glasgow. They were simultaneously published in The Lancet.

The Family Heart Foundation, a leading research and advocacy organization focused on the role of lipids in cardiovascular disease and prevention, today announced results from the largest study ever conducted of people living with cardiovascular disease who have a confirmed measurement of lipoprotein(a), also known as Lp(a).

Results showing that any increase in levels of Lp(a) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events including heart attack and stroke were presented today at the European Atherosclerosis Society Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, and were simultaneously published in the European Heart Journal.

Among patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia who were receiving maximum tolerated doses of lipid-lowering therapy and were at high risk for cardiovascular events, obicetrapib reduced LDL cholesterol levels by 29.9%.

Statins are widely prescribed to reduce cholesterol and lower the risk of heart disease. But they may also hold the key to slowing or even preventing cancer spread. While screening drugs to find ones that stop MACC1, researchers hit upon statins. This wasn’t expected. Seven different statins were tested, including simvastatin, atorvastatin, and fluvastatin. All seven reduced MACC1 levels in tumor cells, though some worked better than others.