Reducing inflammation — independent of lowering cholesterol — can reduce the risk of heart attacks, according to research sponsored by Novartis and presented Sunday at the European Society of Cardiology in Barcelona. The clinical trial results were also published in The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine.
The study assessed the efficacy of Novartis' anti-inflammatory drug canakinumab in reducing the risk of recurrent heart attack among patients who'd previously experienced the adverse health event and were deemed high-risk for cardiovascular disease. More than 10,000 heart attack patients were randomized to either receive a placebo or the anti-inflammatory drug. Analysis revealed high-risk cardiovascular disease patients given a medium dose of canakinumab demonstrated a 15 percent drop in a combined measure of heart attacks, stroke and cardiovascular death over the course of four years compared to the placebo group.
Some physicians are calling the study a huge "scientific triumph," suggesting the drug may be an effective treatment for patients with heart disease, according to The Washington Post.
About 635,000 Americans experience a first-time heart attack every year. Of those who survive, about 40 percent have high inflammation. Currently available drugs for these patients only address high cholesterol, not inflammation.
"I once described this trial at a meeting as being 'courageous' … This was just a real long shot in many people's eyes," Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who was not involved in the study but serves as an unpaid adviser to Novartis, told The Washington Post. "It opens up an entirely new vista for the treatment of heart disease, because now everybody on the planet — in the pharmaceutical industry and in research institutions like ours and at the National Institutes of Health — are going to be looking to find anti-inflammatory therapies."
Novartis plans to file the drug for regulatory approval by the end of 2017.
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