{"id":821886,"date":"2026-07-24T23:56:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/821886\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T23:56:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:56:50","slug":"newly-approved-pill-cuts-ldl-cholesterol-levels-by-more-than-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/821886\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly approved pill cuts LDL cholesterol levels by more than half"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n          <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A mature man sitting on a bed takes a pill while holding a glass of water with his other hand.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2267840549.jpg\" style=\"height:399px; width:600px\" class=\"ucr-content-image\" data-cr-imageid=\"fd0602b9-883b-4cd3-9243-0ba41db74763\"\/>\n        <\/p>\n<p>A new pill that dramatically lowers harmful LDL cholesterol may be a good option for people who can\u2019t tolerate statins or who haven\u2019t lowered their LDL enough despite their current treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/drugs\/news-events-human-drugs\/fda-approves-first-oral-therapy-inhibits-proprotein-convertase-subtilisinkexin-type-9-pcsk9-lower\" style=\"text-decoration:underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Approved by the FDA<\/a> in July 2026, enlicitide (Lipfendra) is the first oral version of a class of drugs known as PCSK9 inhibitors. These drugs work by mimicking the effect of a naturally occurring variant in the PCSK9 gene that leads to very low LDL levels. But the original drugs \u2014 which are given by injection once or twice a month \u2014 aren\u2019t widely used. Some people aren\u2019t comfortable giving themselves an injection. Also, most insurance companies won\u2019t cover the cost (which range from $200 to $500 or more per month) until a person has tried other therapies without success.<\/p>\n<p>Enlicitide is a daily pill that must be taken on an empty stomach with a sip of water, black coffee, or plain tea. It lowers LDL by nearly 60%, which is similar to the injectable PCSK9 drugs. Less than 10% of users experienced either dizziness or diarrhea, the two most common side effects. A month\u2019s supply will cost about $300; for now, insurance coverage remains unclear.<\/p>\n<p>The drug might be especially helpful for people whose LDL remains above recommended levels, despite taking cholesterol-lowering drug such as statins. The 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/heart-health\/take-home-advice-from-the-new-cholesterol-guidelines\" style=\"text-decoration:underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cholesterol guidelines<\/a> recommend that people who\u2019ve had a heart attack or stroke should aim for an LDL cholesterol of less than 55 milligrams per deciliter.<\/p>\n<p>The injectable PCSK9 drugs, alirocumab (Praluent) and evolocumab (Repatha), have been shown to reduce the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, and death from cardiovascular disease by up to 20% among people at high risk, over periods of up to at least five years. A similar study is currently underway to see if enlicitide offers the same benefit, with results expected in several years.<\/p>\n<p>            Image: \u00a9 zeljkosantrac\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new pill that dramatically lowers harmful LDL cholesterol may be a good option for people who can\u2019t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,56935,56938,56933,56934,56937,56939,137,56928,3726,56932,56931,56930,56936,56929,490],"class_list":["post-821886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-harvard-health","tag-harvard-health-letter","tag-harvard-health-publications","tag-harvard-health-publishing","tag-harvard-heart-letter","tag-harvard-women","tag-health","tag-health-information","tag-health-news","tag-health-newsletter","tag-health-newsletters","tag-health-report","tag-health-harvard-edu","tag-medical-information","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}