US FDA approves novel cholesterol pill for high-risk patients

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-its-kind pill that can drastically reduce cholesterol in a way that’s previously only been available with expensive, injectable drugs. The drug from Merck was OK’d on Thursday for patients with artery-clogging cholesterol that persists even after taking statins, the standard medications for cutting heart attack risk. Merck will market its pill under the brand name Lipfendra. It’s the first noninjectable medication that works by blocking a liver protein called PCSK9. That protein limits the body’s ability to clear cholesterol from the blood, and biotech injectables targeting it have been available from Amgen and other drugmakers […]...

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