Advances on the treatment of Dyslipidaemias

oleh: Eleni Bilianou

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Scientific Council of the General Hospital of Piraeus Tzaneion 2017-01-01

Deskripsi

Treatment targets for Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), according to the recently published guidelines, are low enough and a substantial proportion of patients are unable to reach them. A new class of hypolipidaemic medications, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors (PCSK9 inhibitors) has been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on July 2015. PCSK9 inhibitors induce an additional decrease of LDL-C by up to 50%-60%. Those inhibitors are monoclonal antibodies and are administered subcutaneously every two weeks or once monthly. Their mode of action relates to their ability to bind to the LDL receptor and lead to its fast catabolism into the lysosomes. Therefore, PCSK9 inhibitors prevent the LDL receptor from its continous recycling to the hepatic membrane. The result is an increase of the plasma levels of LDL-C. Patients eligible to be treated with the new therapeutic approach are those at very high and high risk for cardiovascular disease with primary dyslipidaemias who are not on treatment targets for LDL-C being on maximal dose of statins and other hypolipidaemic medications and those statin-intolerant. Data from large randomized clinical trials on cardiovascular outcomes are expected to be published at the end of the year.