Pfizer is developing PCSK9 pill to treat cholestrol
Drugmaker giant Pfizer Inc has announced that it is currently developing PCSK9 pills to treat the bad cholestrol protein PCSK9.
The drug, which will be in the form or an oral pills and vaccine, is expected to begin a trial in humans this year. Once it hits the shelves, the drug is expected to treat people with moderate to high cholestrol.
“Imagine going to your doctor to get a shot for cholesterol,” he said, noting that, if successful, the vaccine might eventually be an annual injection,” Mikael Dolsten, the company’s research and development chief, said
This current crop of PCSK9 inhibitors are monoclonal antibodies, proteins grown in living cells that need to be given by injection. They work differently from statins – pills that inhibit the liver’s production of LDL cholesterol in the first place.
The injected drugs are being developed to treat patients who can’t tolerate statins, or whose cholesterol cannot be controlled with the older drugs.
Category: Features, Pharmaceuticals