AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Heart Disease, Lipids / 13.05.2017
Improving Statin Adherence Would Reduce Need For Expensive PCSK9 Inhibitors
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Julia M. Akeroyd, MPH
Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (IQuESt)
Michael E. DeBakey Veteran Affairs Medical Center
Salim S Virani, MBBS, Ph.D.
Baylor College of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In the recently published Further Cardiovascular Outcomes Research with PCSK9 Inhibition in Subjects with Elevated Risk (FOURIER) trial, treatment with evolocumab resulted in a 15% relative (1.5% absolute) risk reduction of major cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) at a median follow-up of 2.2 years. Given the high cost of evolocumab, there is a need to identify what proportion of ASCVD patients would qualify for evolocumab based on FOURIER entry criteria and how eligibility would change if maximal doses of evidence-based lipid lowering therapies were required.
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