A new FDA-approved daily pill aimed at lowering “bad” cholesterol is drawing attention from doctors and patients looking for another option to bring down high LDL levels.
The drug is called Lipfendra, also referred to as enlicitide, and it is the first oral PCSK-9 medication approved for people with high LDL cholesterol. Albany Med cardiologist Dr. Suzie Mookherjee said the medication has generated significant interest.
“You know, it’s a new drug and it’s getting a lot of media exposure. We’re very excited about it. The fact, how it works is absolutely unbelievable,” Mookherjee said.
PCSK-9 medications work by helping the liver remove LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream more efficiently. “There’s something on the surface of the liver called LDL receptors. And those receptors actually can grab LDL out of the bloodstream, process it in the liver and excrete it. So this drug helps to make that more efficient,” Mookherjee said.
Mookherjee stressed that PCSK-9 medications are meant to be used along with statins, not as a replacement for them. The two medications do different things. “Statins, how they work is that they decrease the production of cholesterol,” she said.
She said the best candidates for the new pill are people who have been taking statins but still have not reached their target LDL levels. The pill has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol by 50% to 60%. PCSK-9 medications have been available previously, but only as injections. Mookherjee said the oral form is a major reason for the attention around Lipfendra. “The reason that this new drug has gotten so much hype is because it’s oral. A lot of people don’t want to have to do twice monthly injections,” she said.
Lipfendra is available now, and Mookherjee said she has already prescribed it for some patients. “We’ve gotten a lot of calls about patients who’ve taken the injectable form who now want to go to the oral form,” she said.