An experimental treatment could further lower triglycerides in the blood, according to a placebo-controlled and double-blind trial led by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. Results were presented at the 2024 American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session & Expo and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The trial randomized 154 adults on lipid-lowering therapy with moderate or severe hypertriglyceridemia to receive either 50mg olezarsen, 80mg olezarsen or placebo. Olezarsen is an antisense oligonucleotide that inhibits APOC3, a gene associated with higher levels of triglycerides, by targeting its mRNA. The subcutaneous medication was administered every four weeks, for a period of a year.
Olezarsen reduced triglyceride levels by 49% at the 50mg dose and 53% at the 80mg dose, compared with placebo. The experimental drug also reduced apolipoprotein B and non-HDL cholesterol, which are important in plaque formation, by 18 to 18.5% and 23% to 25%, respectively.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2402309
