Reuters: Market News: Monthly shots of Amgen drug slash cholesterol 66 pct

Reuters: Market News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Monthly shots of Amgen drug slash cholesterol 66 pct Mar 25th 2012, 16:47 Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:47pm EDT * Strong reductions seen with 2-week, 4-week shots * Side effects similar to placebo in trial CHICAGO, March 25 (Reuters) - Monthly injections of an experimental drug from Amgen Inc slashed levels of cholesterol by up to an additional 66 percent in patients already taking statins, researchers said on Sunday, making it a potential strong rival to a similar drug being developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. Amgen and Regeneron are racing to develop medicines that cut cholesterol through a new strategy, by blocking a protein called PCSK9. In earlier studies, both drugs cut levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol by up to two thirds, although Amgen's AMG 145 had been tested in healthy volunteers taking no other cholesterol medicines, while Regeneron's REGN 727 was tested in patients with high cholesterol that also took statins. Amgen on Sunday reported its first results from an early-stage trial of AMG 145 in patients with high cholesterol also taking statins, and impressive findings were seen in those getting injections every two weeks or every month. In the 51-patient study, patients receiving monthly injections of AMG 145 and taking low to moderate doses of statins had up to a two-thirds reduction in LDL cholesterol by the eighth week of the study. "We gave two doses four weeks apart and at the eighth week there was minimal tapering off" of the drug's potency, Clapton Dias, Amgen's medical services director, said in an interview. "The 66-percent reduction of LDL was maintained." In patients receiving injections of AMG 145 every two weeks in combination with low to moderate doses of statins, LDL reductions of up to 75 percent were seen after six weeks, Amgen said. Those taking the Amgen drug every two weeks in combination with high doses of statins had LDL reductions of up to 63 percent. Data from the Phase 1 study were presented at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology being held in Chicago. Researchers on Monday are slated to release the full data from a Phase II study of REGN 727, and the findings will better enable investors to size up the pros and cons of the rival therapies. Neither drug has shown any serious side effects so far in clinical trials. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions