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1 Injection end Bad Cholesterol: Cholesterol is a very bad thing which sticks in our arteries. For this, statins are taken every day, but now scientists have conducted trials on an injection which can get rid of bad cholesterol for life.
1 Injection end Bad Cholesterol : Cholesterol is a form of fat. Like proteins and carbohydrates, fat is also a major nutrient which helps in producing energy and producing many types of enzymes and hormones. But if cholesterol increases even a little bit in our body, it leads to very bad consequences. It keeps hollowing our body and we don’t even realize it. This high cholesterol sticks to the blood arteries and when it becomes excessive, it starts blocking the blood flow. Due to this, there is a fear of bursting of blood vessels and due to reduced blood flow, the risk of heart attack increases. Till now, to reduce the risk of cholesterol, statin drugs are taken which thin the blood. This does not eliminate cholesterol but it does not increase further but scientists have now decided to eliminate it completely. For this, a medicine has been made which destroys cholesterol.
Cholesterol is gone for life
It has been said in the news of Daily Mail that an injection named VERVE-102 has been made which can eliminate high cholesterol for life after taking just one dose. This medicine bypasses the gene which is responsible for increasing high cholesterol. The trial of this injection has been done on a small scale but its results have been very surprising. 14 patients were included in this. The LDL level of these people was very high. After giving this injection, it was seen in these patients that the amount of LDL reduced by 53 percent in just four weeks. However, large-scale trials are still needed to replicate these results and prove the safety of the drug. But experts hope that this new experimental therapy can be very helpful for those people for whom statins also do not work well. This medicine can prove to be a big change for high cholesterol patients in future. Only after taking a single injection can one be free from the danger of high cholesterol.
Currently, statin works
There are millions of people in India who have high cholesterol. Most of these people do not even know that they have high cholesterol because it does not show any symptoms. Statin drugs are currently given for high cholesterol which block the liver enzymes responsible for LDL production. Louise Bowman, professor of medicine and clinical trials at Oxford University, says statins have been in use for years and have been thoroughly tested in the largest trials to date. We know that these are effective, safe and generally well tolerated medicines. Recently another medicine has been made for high cholesterol. This medicine named PCSK9 inhibitors belongs to class A medicines. This includes medicines like alirocumab and evolocumab. Instead of reducing the production of LDL, it helps the body remove it from the blood and send it back to the liver, where it is broken down and destroyed. PCSK9 is a protein made in the liver that blocks this cleaning process, causing LDL to accumulate in the arteries. PCSK9 inhibitors were first licensed in the UK in 2015.
A new medicine also in the market
Dr Riccardo Petracco, consultant cardiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the London-based Mayo Clinic, says that the important thing is that these drugs can work together with statins and reduce bad cholesterol even further. In some studies, up to 70 percent reduction in cholesterol has been observed with this medicine. However PCSK9 inhibitors are expensive. Some cost up to £3,000 a year, while statins can be bought for around £20 a year for a patient. Therefore, they are generally recommended only for those patients in whom high cholesterol is due to family reasons and is not under control in any way.
