Researchers at Albuquerque-based University of New Mexico School of Medicine have created a new LDL cholesterol vaccine.
The study, published in NPJ Vaccines, tested the vaccine on mice and monkeys with positive results. The vaccine lowers LDL cholesterol almost as effectively as PCSK9 inhibitors, according to a Dec. 14 system news release. It has been tested over the past decade on monkeys and mice with "promising results," the release said
"The vaccine is based on a non-infectious virus particle," lead author Bryce Chackerian, PhD, a professor in the molecular genetics and microbiology department at the university, said in the release. "It is just the shell of a virus, and it turns out that we can use that shell of a virus to develop vaccines against all sorts of different things."
The vaccine could be cheaper than $100 per dose.