The ‘slam dunk’ that wasn’t: Promising cholesterol drug fails to prevent heart attacks or stroke

An experimental drug that held great promise in driving down a dangerous form of cholesterol didn’t show any measurable impact on heart attack or stroke in a clinical trial. The failure of the Novartis drug pelacarsen to help people who have high levels of lipoprotein(a) stunned researchers, who called it a massive blow to preventive cardiology.

Results of the clinical trial of pelacarsen, an injection, presented Saturday at a meeting of the American Heart Association, found there were zero decreases in stroke, heart attack, cardiovascular deaths or the number of procedures to open blocked arteries or restore blood flow to the heart.