Next big drug against cholesterol takes shape
" A handful of drugmakers are racing to develop a new class of medicines they believe could be the biggest weapon against heart disease since statins were introduced in the 1980s.
The contest is taking place largely out of public view, but researchers and industry analysts say excitement is building over the injectable medicines. They work by blocking PCSK9, a protein whose natural function is to preserve levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream.
Researchers in Paris, Montreal and Dallas, through experiments with thousands of patients that began in 1999, discovered the gene behind PCSK9 and deciphered its function.
Biotechnology company Regeneron and its big pharmaceutical partner Sanofi are now ahead of the pack in developing a drug that goes after PCSK9. A single injection of their medicine, called REGN727, slashed LDL levels by more than 60 percent for a month in an early trial. Results from mid-stage studies are expected later this year. (...)"
in Reuters