Starting today, Canarian hospitals will be able to dispense the drug known as ‘cholesterol vaccine’ that reduces the presence of this fatty molecule in an effective and sustained way with only two doses a year.
This medication has been popularly called a ‘vaccine’ because it works by interfering with the messenger RNAlike active prophylaxis against covid, explains the head of the Rational Use of Medicines service of the Canarian Health Service (SCS), Ignacio López Puech.
“It is not a vaccine because it does not act on a virus, it acts on blood cholesterol, lowering it to normal levels,” indicates the SCS doctor who emphasizes that this drug It will only be dispensed by the pharmacy services of the Canarian hospitals and has very specific indications..
Specifically, specialists will be able to prescribe the drug Leqvio to people who suffer from familial hypercholesterolemia -an increase in cholesterol concentrations due to genetic causes- and that cannot be controlled through a change in diet or conventional treatments, in those who have high cardiovascular risk and do not respond to medication to reduce high cholesterol levels and people who cannot consume staninespresent in most treatments to combat the presence of this type of lipids (fats) in the blood.
Expensive drug
Since Wednesday, the National Health System has been financing this treatment, which will entail a disbursement to the Canarian Health Service of almost 4,000 euros per patient per year. «Social Security covers it. “It does not require any type of contribution from the patient,” says López, who attributes the high cost of the treatment to the fact that it has been carried out with genetic technology.
Leqvio is administered through subcutaneous injection. After the specialist’s indication, a first dose is administered and, after three months, the second. The treatment will be maintained with the administration of one dose every 6 monthsthat is, two annual injections, explains the doctor about the drug.
According to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), three studies Main studies involving a total of 3,660 patients revealed that Leqvio was effective in reducing levels of LDL-cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins, i.e. the so-called bad cholesterol).
More than 94% of patients in the studies were also taking statins or other medications to lower blood lipid levels.
In 2020, the EMA authorized the use of Leqvio in the European Union when considerable reductions in LDL cholesterol levels were confirmed in patients treated with Leqvio, surpassing the results obtained with statins or other lipid-lowering medications.
In Spain, the cardiovascular diseases They are the first cause of death. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics received by the Efe agency, in 2021, 119,196 people died due to these diseases, 26.4% of the total deaths.
Furthermore, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of hospitalization (12.9%) in 2021, with 582,446 admissions to public hospitals.
2023-11-02 23:06:21
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