The Eli Lilly drug caused a major drop in the blood levels of Lp(a), but further research is needed to show that it will prevent heart attacks and strokes.
As many as one in five people — an estimated 64 million in the United States — have elevated levels of a tiny particle in their blood. It can greatly increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
But few know about it, and almost no doctors test for it, because there was not much to be done. Diet does not help. Neither does exercise. There have been no drugs.
But in the near future, that may change.
On Sunday, cardiologists announced that an experimental drug made by Eli Lilly, lepodisiran, could lower levels of the particle, Lp(a), by 94 percent with a single injection. The effects lasted for six months and there were no significant side effects.
But it is not yet confirmed that reducing Lp(a) levels also reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes. That awaits large clinical trials that are now underway.
The Lilly research was presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine. At least four other companies are also testing innovative drugs that block the body’s production of Lp(a), a mix of lipids and a protein.
Dr. David Maron, a preventive cardiologist at Stanford not involved in the Lilly research, said the evidence of profound and long-lasting reduction in lipoprotein levels with lepodisiran was “thrilling.”
