Efficacy and Safety of Bempedoic Acid in Association With Anti-PCSK9 and Ezetimibe in Statin-intolerant Patients

Summary

Statin intolerance occurs in up to 15-20% of treated patients. The combined use of Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors with ezetimibe is commonly performed in these patients, and has been associated with an estimated LDL-C reduction of 65-70%. This drug combination may be insufficient to reach the LDL-C target in high- and very-high-risk patients with statin intolerance, also considering the goals recommended by the current international guidelines. Also, PCSK9 inhibitor dosage escalations frequently fail to achieve the target. Doubling the dosage of alirocumab from 75 mg to 150 mg, when administrated as monotherapy, determines a further reduction of only 3,6% of LDL-C serum level. The full dose of Evolocumab (420 mg every two weeks), was approved only in the setting of homozygous familiar hypercholesterolemia. Bempedoic acid is an oral, once-daily prodrug, metabolized in the liver to an active inhibitor of ATP-citrate lyase, blocking cholesterol synthesis upstream of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase and thereby increasing hepatic expression of the LDL receptor and decreasing circulating LDL-C levels. The CLEAR (Cholesterol Lowering via Bempedoic acid, an ACL-Inhibiting Regimen) Harmony trial demonstrated that bempedoic acid in addition to maximally tolerated statin therapy did not lead to a higher incidence of adverse events compared to placebo and significantly lowered LDL-C levels. In the CLEAR Serenity study, bempedoic acid showed a safe and effective profile compared with placebo in patients with statin intolerance. In the CLEAR Tranquility, it provided an oral therapeutic option complementary to ezetimibe in patients intolerant to high-dose statins who required additional LDL-C lowering. The synergistic effect of bempedoic acid plus PCSK9 inhibitors has been investigated by one phase 2 trial (NCT03193047), which showed a statistical superiority of bempedoic acid plus evolocumab strategy versus placebo plus evolocumab in terms of percent change in LDL-C up to 2 months. To date, no randomized phase 3 clinical trial have evaluated the effect of bempedoic acid in association with anti-PCSK9 and ezetimibe in statin-intolerant patients not attaining the recommended LDL-C target. The investigators hypothesized that the association of bempedoic acid with PCSK9 inhibitors and ezetimibe may be safe and effective in reducing LDL-C in statin-intolerant patients.

Timeline

Start

2024-05-01

Primary completion

2025-06-30

Completion

2025-06-30

Publications

• Background Alonso R, Cuevas A, Cafferata A. Diagnosis and Management of Statin Intolerance. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2019 Mar 1;26(3):207-215. doi: 10.5551/jat.RV17030. Epub 2019 Jan 19.
• Background Nissen SE, Stroes E, Dent-Acosta RE, Rosenson RS, Lehman SJ, Sattar N, Preiss D, Bruckert E, Ceska R, Lepor N, Ballantyne CM, Gouni-Berthold I, Elliott M, Brennan DM, Wasserman SM, Somaratne R, Scott R, Stein EA; GAUSS-3 Investigators. Efficacy and Tolerability of Evolocumab vs Ezetimibe in Patients With Muscle-Related Statin Intolerance: The GAUSS-3 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2016 Apr 19;315(15):1580-90. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.3608.
• Background Cannon CP, Cariou B, Blom D, McKenney JM, Lorenzato C, Pordy R, Chaudhari U, Colhoun HM; ODYSSEY COMBO II Investigators. Efficacy and safety of alirocumab in high cardiovascular risk patients with inadequately controlled hypercholesterolaemia on maximally tolerated doses of statins: the ODYSSEY COMBO II randomized controlled trial. Eur Heart J. 2015 May 14;36(19):1186-94. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehv028. Epub 2015 Feb 16.
• Background Moriarty PM, Thompson PD, Cannon CP, Guyton JR, Bergeron J, Zieve FJ, Bruckert E, Jacobson TA, Kopecky SL, Baccara-Dinet MT, Du Y, Pordy R, Gipe DA; ODYSSEY ALTERNATIVE Investigators. Efficacy and safety of alirocumab vs ezetimibe in statin-intolerant patients, with a statin rechallenge arm: The ODYSSEY ALTERNATIVE randomized trial. J Clin Lipidol. 2015 Nov-Dec;9(6):758-769. doi: 10.1016/j.jacl.2015.08.006. Epub 2015 Aug 29.
• Background Mach F, Baigent C, Catapano AL, Koskinas KC, Casula M, Badimon L, Chapman MJ, De Backer GG, Delgado V, Ference BA, Graham IM, Halliday A, Landmesser U, Mihaylova B, Pedersen TR, Riccardi G, Richter DJ, Sabatine MS, Taskinen MR, Tokgozoglu L, Wiklund O; ESC Scientific Document Group. 2019 ESC/EAS Guidelines for the management of dyslipidaemias: lipid modification to reduce cardiovascular risk. Eur Heart J. 2020 Jan 1;41(1):111-188. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehz455. No abstract available.
• Background Roth EM, McKenney JM. ODYSSEY MONO: effect of alirocumab 75 mg subcutaneously every 2 weeks as monotherapy versus ezetimibe over 24 weeks. Future Cardiol. 2015;11(1):27-37. doi: 10.2217/fca.14.82.
• Background Fala L. Repatha (Evolocumab): Second PCSK9 Inhibitor Approved by the FDA for Patients with Familial Hypercholesterolemia. Am Health Drug Benefits. 2016 Mar;9(Spec Feature):136-9. No abstract available.
• Background Honigberg MC, Natarajan P. Bempedoic Acid for Lowering LDL Cholesterol. JAMA. 2019 Nov 12;322(18):1769-1771. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.16598. No abstract available.
• Background Ray KK, Bays HE, Catapano AL, Lalwani ND, Bloedon LT, Sterling LR, Robinson PL, Ballantyne CM; CLEAR Harmony Trial. Safety and Efficacy of Bempedoic Acid to Reduce LDL Cholesterol. N Engl J Med. 2019 Mar 14;380(11):1022-1032. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1803917.
• Background Laufs U, Banach M, Mancini GBJ, Gaudet D, Bloedon LT, Sterling LR, Kelly S, Stroes ESG. Efficacy and Safety of Bempedoic Acid in Patients With Hypercholesterolemia and Statin Intolerance. J Am Heart Assoc. 2019 Apr 2;8(7):e011662. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.118.011662.
• Background Ballantyne CM, Banach M, Mancini GBJ, Lepor NE, Hanselman JC, Zhao X, Leiter LA. Efficacy and safety of bempedoic acid added to ezetimibe in statin-intolerant patients with hypercholesterolemia: A randomized, placebo-controlled study. Atherosclerosis. 2018 Oct;277:195-203. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2018.06.002. Epub 2018 Jun 12.
• Background Mayne J, Dewpura T, Raymond A, Cousins M, Chaplin A, Lahey KA, Lahaye SA, Mbikay M, Ooi TC, Chretien M. Plasma PCSK9 levels are significantly modified by statins and fibrates in humans. Lipids Health Dis. 2008 Jun 11;7:22. doi: 10.1186/1476-511X-7-22.
• Background Berge KE, Ose L, Leren TP. Missense mutations in the PCSK9 gene are associated with hypocholesterolemia and possibly increased response to statin therapy. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006 May;26(5):1094-100. doi: 10.1161/01.ATV.0000204337.81286.1c. Epub 2006 Jan 19.
• Background Welder G, Zineh I, Pacanowski MA, Troutt JS, Cao G, Konrad RJ. High-dose atorvastatin causes a rapid sustained increase in human serum PCSK9 and disrupts its correlation with LDL cholesterol. J Lipid Res. 2010 Sep;51(9):2714-21. doi: 10.1194/jlr.M008144. Epub 2010 Jun 5.
• Background Davignon J, Dubuc G. Statins and ezetimibe modulate plasma proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin-9 (PCSK9) levels. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2009;120:163-73.
• Background Kastelein JJ, Ginsberg HN, Langslet G, Hovingh GK, Ceska R, Dufour R, Blom D, Civeira F, Krempf M, Lorenzato C, Zhao J, Pordy R, Baccara-Dinet MT, Gipe DA, Geiger MJ, Farnier M. ODYSSEY FH I and FH II: 78 week results with alirocumab treatment in 735 patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia. Eur Heart J. 2015 Nov 14;36(43):2996-3003. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehv370. Epub 2015 Sep 1.
• Background Kereiakes DJ, Robinson JG, Cannon CP, Lorenzato C, Pordy R, Chaudhari U, Colhoun HM. Efficacy and safety of the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor alirocumab among high cardiovascular risk patients on maximally tolerated statin therapy: The ODYSSEY COMBO I study. Am Heart J. 2015 Jun;169(6):906-915.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2015.03.004. Epub 2015 Mar 13.
• Background Bays H, Gaudet D, Weiss R, Ruiz JL, Watts GF, Gouni-Berthold I, Robinson J, Zhao J, Hanotin C, Donahue S. Alirocumab as Add-On to Atorvastatin Versus Other Lipid Treatment Strategies: ODYSSEY OPTIONS I Randomized Trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015 Aug;100(8):3140-8. doi: 10.1210/jc.2015-1520. Epub 2015 Jun 1.
• Background Farnier M, Jones P, Severance R, Averna M, Steinhagen-Thiessen E, Colhoun HM, Du Y, Hanotin C, Donahue S. Efficacy and safety of adding alirocumab to rosuvastatin versus adding ezetimibe or doubling the rosuvastatin dose in high cardiovascular-risk patients: The ODYSSEY OPTIONS II randomized trial. Atherosclerosis. 2016 Jan;244:138-46. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.11.010. Epub 2015 Nov 14.
• Background Pinkosky SL, Newton RS, Day EA, Ford RJ, Lhotak S, Austin RC, Birch CM, Smith BK, Filippov S, Groot PHE, Steinberg GR, Lalwani ND. Liver-specific ATP-citrate lyase inhibition by bempedoic acid decreases LDL-C and attenuates atherosclerosis. Nat Commun. 2016 Nov 28;7:13457. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13457.
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• Background Masson W, Lobo M, Lavalle-Cobo A, Masson G, Molinero G. Effect of bempedoic acid on new onset or worsening diabetes: A meta-analysis. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2020 Oct;168:108369. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2020.108369. Epub 2020 Aug 20.
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• Results Fitchett DH, Hegele RA, Verma S. Cardiology patient page. Statin intolerance. Circulation. 2015 Mar 31;131(13):e389-91. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.013189. No abstract available.

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