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A massive, pioneering trial is underway to assess whether RNA-based modulation of Lp(a) — a form of bad cholesterol that narrows arteries, boosts the risk of blood clots and fans the flames of inflammation — can save lives.
The first drug designed specifically to lower levels of lipoprotein(a) has entered phase III testing after clinicians showed that the antisense therapy, called TQJ230, could safely and dramatically reduce the concentration of the fatty particle in the blood. Novartis’s pivotal study will likely take at least 3 years to wrap up. But lipid experts — and other drug makers with similar therapeutics in the clinic — are hopeful that the effects that have been observed in earlier trials will translate into long-term survival benefits for patients with dangerously high levels of the plaque-forming molecule.