Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Cholesterol Breakthroughs Help Reduce LDL Levels, Heart Attack Risk
The New York Times: New Pill From Merck Could Slash Cholesterol Levels, Trials Show
Merck, the company that introduced statins to the world nearly 40 years ago, has a new, intensely powerful pill that can slash levels of dangerous LDL cholesterol to levels almost never seen in adults. The new pill, enlicitide, blocks a liver protein, PCSK9, that slows the body’s ability to clear cholesterol. With most PCSK9 blocked, LDL levels plummet and rates of heart attacks and strokes in high risk patients fall by up to 20 percent in just the first year. At least six million adults in the United States are eligible for drugs that block PCSK 9. (Kolata, 11/8)
Stat: Amgen's Repatha Cholesterol Shot Slashed Heart Attack Risk By 36%
A cholesterol-lowering injection that’s been on the market for nearly a decade has now shown its power to cut cardiovascular events in people considered at high risk but who haven’t yet suffered a heart attack or stroke. (Cooney, 11/8)
CNN: Scientists Have Edited A Gene That May Reduce High Cholesterol Permanently
With a snip of a gene, doctors may one day permanently lower dangerously high cholesterol, possibly removing the need for medication, according to a new pilot study published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (LaMotte, 11/8)
The Wall Street Journal: More Drugs To Fight High Cholesterol Are Emerging
A statin isn’t the only answer anymore to lowering cholesterol. The lipid-reducing medicines, among the most widely prescribed drugs in the U.S., have been a mainstay of heart-disease prevention and treatment for decades. But they don’t work for everyone, and can only reduce harmful “bad” cholesterol so much. (McKay, 11/8)
In science news —
Stat: James Watson, Dead At 97, Was A Scientific Legend And A Pariah Among His Peers
He co-discovered DNA’s structure but later engaged in rank racism and sexism. (Begley, 11/7)
The New York Times: The DNA Helix Changed How We Thought About Ourselves
“The laws of inheritance are quite unknown,” Charles Darwin acknowledged in 1859. The discovery of DNA’s shape altered how we conceived of life itself. (Zimmer, 11/7)
