A new cholesterol-busting injection can prove very important in fighting against heart attacks and strokes and potentially salve millions of lives.
It has been a surprise for the whole medical world when the clinical trials of the injection shown a remarkable disappearance of nearly three-quarters of a harmful form of artery-clogging cholesterol.
The experiment was made in America and can be a boon for people having intolerance to statins, which is the most commonly prescribed drug against high cholesterol.
Though, the jab is still in its developmental stage and will not be available for next four years but it has already created a sense of hope and interest among the medics.
"This is a very exciting development as it appears the drug has remarkable potential for helping lots of -people with high cholesterol," the Daily Express quoted James McKenney, the chief researcher, as saying.
"Every cardiologist who has seen the study has said, 'Wow'.
"We know the more you reduce a patient's bad cholesterol the better the chances of reducing coronary risk”.
"If all goes well we should be able to reduce heart disease in a very substantial fashion. We are highly expectant but we are not there yet," he said.
People having maximum risk from the harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) includes those people who consume high-fat diet, smoke and do not exercise.
According to the recommendations of the doctors keeping blood levels of total cholesterol is very essential for the production of hormones and absorption of food but at a very low density.
One out of every five patients is resistant to statins and for many others even high doses are not sufficient for lowering cholesterol.
A new drug, codenamed as REGN727, has been developed from a class of medicines called monoclonal antibodies or MABs that are already used to fight cancer.
It resides on a protein called PCSK9, and stops it from attaching to LDL and thus, leaves it free to filter out unwanted fats.
The potential for a "holy grail" drug was so effective than anything else on the market that two major US companies, namely Sanofi US and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, joined hands.
The clinical trials of the research were conducted by Virginia-based private medical research company National -Clinical Research and the results of the study were presented to the American -College of Cardiology.
-With inputs from ANI
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