AHA: Amgen’s Repatha tied to greater risk reduction in high-risk heart attack patients

PHILADELPHIA––With new competition potentially on its way in the PCSK9 inhibitor class, Amgen’s stalwart Repatha is looking for a leg up in treating high-risk heart attack patients.

A new analysis shows that patients within the one year mark of a heart attack are at a much higher risk of a following cardiovascular event––and cholesterol-lowering Repatha is particularly effective in treating that group.

Patients treated with a Repatha-statin combo within one year after a heart attack showed a 25% risk reduction in follow-up CV events, including heart attack, death or stroke, over statins alone. In patients treated with the combo after the one-year mark, there was a reported 15% risk reduction, according to an analysis of data from Amgen’s Fourier outcomes trial set to be presented Monday at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. 

Chris Kurtz, Amgen’s VP and global development and therapeutic area head for cardiovascular and metabolic, reinforced Repatha’s clinical effect on high-risk heart attack patients by intensively lowering LDL-C levels. 

“It’s good that we have validation, but it’s maybe not a surprising result,” Kurtz said. “I would say there’s a growing body of evidence that there’s urgency around risk-factor control and LDL reduction and now we have tools to do it.”

RELATED: Amgen escalates PCSK9 pricing war with permanent 60% price cut on Repatha