The news about a possible vaccine against cholesterol has caused a revolution in the scientific world and the Ministry of Health has announced that it will finance it for a certain number of patients who meet certain conditions. Due to the impact caused by this news we are forced to make some considerations.
Is it really a vaccine? No, it is not because it does not use the mechanisms that vaccines usually use, however, its effect is very clear since it allows cholesterol to be controlled spontaneously, using a technology by Katarin Karikó, a researcher who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine a few years ago. weeks and their findings have been key to quickly developing vaccines for Covid.
The explanation for this is found in the PCSK9 gene. French researchers found a rare case of high cholesterol in a family that was causing death in all family members. The cause was a rare mutation in the PSCK9 gene that caused arteries, tendons and muscles to turn into fat and They wondered that, if such a gene existed, perhaps the opposite could exist, that is, one that would make people live with very low cholesterol levels.
Around that time, South African researchers found a woman in Zimbabwe who had LDL levels around 15 mg/dl when the normal level in that population is 100 mg/dl, and from that moment on, the pharmaceutical industry became involved. to investigate and work on medications that would modulate the expression of PSCK9 and in this way the drug in question was born, whose name is “Inclisiran”, Leqvio’s trade name.
The main effect of this drug is that it makes the liver better able to clean the blood of cholesterol and as a consequence, the levels of bad cholesterol (LDL-C) drop drastically, reaching drops of 54%, which is essential and a step to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in Spain. According to the INI, in 2021 a total of 119,196 people died due to these diseases, that is, 26.4% of the total deaths, without forgetting that these diseases cause 12.9% of hospitalizations with a total of 582,446 admissions to public hospitals.
The fight to reduce high cholesterol levels began a long time ago, the first drugs achieved discrete reductions and these were not marked until the discovery of statins with which the first results were achieved to reduce the incidence and mortality from cardiovascular disease. .
Subsequent drugs combined with statins improved the results even more and thus, broadly speaking, we arrived at a new drug that is the subject of this article.
Perhaps it has been considered a vaccine because its form of administration is an injection every six months, instead of the classic pill. The results obtained so far speak of a powerful and sustained reduction in bad cholesterol (LDL-C) with very mild side effects. The reduction, as we mentioned previously, reaches decreases of up to 54%.
For what type of patients can the drug be administered? According to the Ministry of Health, it will be financed from November 1 for those patients who have already suffered a cardiovascular event and cannot keep their bad cholesterol levels below 100 mg/dl with the usual drugs and who follow a diet. appropriate and do some physical exercises according to your age.
The drug works in a different way than the usual ones and is authorized in more than 60 countries including the EU and the US, but today we cannot say that »Inclisiran» manages to reduce heart attacks or strokes.
Although there is still no direct evidence that this treatment reduces heart attacks or strokes, we do know that reductions in LDL-C are related to the reduction of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, so we must wait for further studies; At the moment and given the limited existence of adverse effects, we should feel hopeful since the benefits are greater than the risks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fernando Fabiani
2023-11-09 20:54:32
#Fernando #Fabiani #vaccine #cholesterol
