If 300,000 patients were treated each year with clisiran, it could help prevent 55,000 heart attacks and strokes and save 30,000 lives in 10 years, she suggested. In a groundbreaking agreement in principle with Novartis, the introduction of Inclisiran on NHS after approval has the potential to save up to 30,000 lives in the next 10 years The drug is currently in phase III for secondary prevention patients, i.e. those already suffering from cardiovascular disease. As part of the agreement, it will also be tested as part of a large clinical study conducted by the United Kingdom in the area of primary prevention, the environment in which cardiovascular diseases are still developing and where patients are exposed to risk. Inclisiran is an anti-RNA drug that Novartis acquired when it bought The Medicines Company for $9.7 billion in November and was developed in partnership with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. It works by blocking the production of the liver enzyme PCSK9, which helps regulate cholesterol in the blood. But unlike PCSK9 inhibitors such as Amgens Repatha (Evolocumab) and Alirocumab, which must be administered every two to four weeks, Inclisiran is administered once every six months and acts as a kind of vaccine against cardiovascular disease. The second proposal is to study a large-scale clinical trial to evaluate the use of inclisiran in patients at very high risk of their first cardiac event (primary prevention). “Novartis has a unique opportunity to open a new chapter in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, the world`s leading cause of death and disability, with inclisiran.
The study will provide both a highly reliable test of the efficacy and safety of Inclisiran to support a population health approach in cholesterol treatment, and will serve as an example for future studies with other treatments in the UK. During a break-up session at the J.P. Morgan conference in the early morning after its presentation, Narasimhan alluded to the announcement with NHS and noted that it was the Medicines Company data for Inclisiran that drove Novartis to buy the company.
