Quest Diagnostics Inc. will use a more precise method of calculating levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol that no longer requires fasting prior to blood draw, a development likely to delight patients who previously had to refrain from eating for up to 12 hours before testing.
A large study of a new type of cholesterol medicine from Merck & Co. Inc. found it cut the risk of heart attack and death by a modest 9 percent, while causing a build up of the drug in fat tissue, leaving its commercial future uncertain.
Shares of Esperion Therapeutics Inc. climbed more than 19 percent after the company announced its Phase II combination cholesterol treatment showed tremendous success in lowering low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in patients.
Shares of Gemphire Therapeutics plunged more than 51 percent in morning trading after the company’s Phase IIb anti-cholesterol drug gemcabene failed to meet analyst expectations.
Amgen Inc. said the U.S. FDA granted priority review to the company’s request to add important heart safety data to the label of its expensive injectable cholesterol drug Repatha.
Merck & Co. Inc. said its experimental cholesterol drug met the main goal of reducing coronary heart diseases in a late-stage study, sending the company’s shares up 2.4 percent in premarket trading.
Coconut oil raises ‘bad’ cholesterol in the same way as other foods high in saturated fats like butter and beef, according to the American Heart Association.
France’s Sanofi and partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said their anti-cholesterol drug Praluent recorded positive results in its first dedicated studies involving patients with diabetes and high cholesterol.
Kowa Pharmaceuticals America Inc. today announced publication of results of the INTREPID Trial (HIV-infected patieNts and TREatment with PItavastatin vs. pravastatin for Dyslipidemia) in The Lancet HIV. Results of the Phase 4 trial showed that LIVALO (pitavastatin) 4 mg was superior to pravastatin 40 mg in reducing LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) in adults with HIV and dyslipidemia and had a comparable safety profile.
Esperion Therapeutics Inc. announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed that Esperion’s LDL-C lowering program is adequate to support approval of an LDL-C lowering indication for bempedoic acid.
