Testing A New Experimental Drug To Raise Good Cholesterol Level

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

A big study to corroborate the results would take four to five years to complete so the drug is still years away from market who is a cardiologist with Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Other experts are intrigued by the findings, but note that the study is still in very at stages buy and ship smoking chalice. "There are a lot of people in the prevention/lipid field that are simultaneously excited and leery," said Dr Howard Weintraub, clinical impresario 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 overture but it's substantial because the concluding drug out of the barrel of this type was not a success. This looks have a fondness a better drug, but it's not definitive by any means. Don't take this to the bank".

LaRosa was referring to torcetrapib, which, for example anacetrapib, belongs to the class of drugs known as cholesterol ester transmission protein (CETP) inhibitors. A large trial on torcetrapib was killed after investigators found an increased jeopardize of death and other cardiovascular outcomes. "I would be more excited about anacetrapib if I hadn't seen what happened to its cousin torcetrapib. Torcetrapib raised HDL astoundingly but that was foot neutralized by the heighten in cardiovascular events".

In the new trial, anacetrapib actually showed a tendency toward fewer cardiovascular problems and fewer angioplasty or ignore procedures, although the study only lasted 18 months. It also didn't conclusion in the blood pressure increases that helped doom torcetrapib.

To assess the safeness of the trial, investigators randomly chose 1623 adults with coronary heart disease who were taking cholesterol-lowering statins to experience either anacetrapib or a placebo for 18 months. At the end of six months, LDL cholesterol was chop off 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 curing arm, versus a short elevation from 40 mg/dl to 46 mg/dl in the placebo group. "We have 94 percent aplomb that this drug doesn't have the harmful tenor that torcetrapib had, but we didn't prove a reduction in events," said Brigham and Women's Cannon. "That will be the cause of a larger study".

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

Experts are still divided as to whether raising HDL levels will in truth 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 at extent soon from other trials exploring the issue. "The reality that LDL was also reduced also makes it promising. We've never been able to satisfactorily demonstrate that raising HDL in actuality changes risk" liverdetox. The only drug currently available to raise HDL is nyacin.