Via the American Journal of Managed Care:
“In 2015, the FDA approved the PCSK9 inhibitors evolocumab and alirocumab for lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The approval of these agents was based on clinical trials that found PCSK9 inhibitors reduced LDL-C levels by around 60%.
Based on this LDL-C reduction, PCSK9 inhibitors were predicted to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by around 36% to 39%. As clinicians, patients, and payers waited for the results of 4 large phase 3 trials powered to assess the efficacy of PCSK9 inhibitors in the prevention of cardiovascular events, these predictions generated high expectations for the potential of this therapeutic class in the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Some even postulated that, despite their current price of $14,000 per year of treatment, PCSK9 inhibitors could dramatically decrease the burden of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at a price comparable with other lipid lowering therapies because of the cost savings associated with avoiding downstream cardiovascular events.”
Read the full report here.
