Familial Hypercholesterolemia News and Research

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COVID-19 increases heart attack rates in people with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

Individuals with genetic high cholesterol, heart disease or both, who were infected with COVID-19 had more heart attacks according to new research by the FH Foundation.

28 May 2021

Researchers use base editing to sustainably lower high LDL cholesterol levels

Base editing is a novel gene editing approach that can precisely change individual building blocks in a DNA sequence.

19 May 2021

Investigational drug reduced triglycerides in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia, acute pancreatitis

The investigational drug evinacumab reduced triglycerides in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (sHTG) and a history of hospitalizations for acute pancreatitis in a phase 2 global study led by Mount Sinai.

17 May 2021

New data highlights the gaps in care for children with familial hypercholesterolemia

Children born with a common genetic condition, familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), are at increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) early in life.

18 Nov 2020

New drug reduces LDL cholesterol in patients with severe hypercholesterolemia

The investigational drug evinacumab reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol--the so-called "bad" cholesterol--by 50 percent in patients with severe hypercholesterolemia whose condition is resistant to standard treatments, a phase 2 study from the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai and other global academic sites has found.

16 Nov 2020

Gruthan Bioscience to develop new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs

Gruthan Bioscience, LLC, a Medical University of South Carolina startup based in Charleston, South Carolina, received a Small Business technology Transfer (STTR) award from the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute in August to take the next step in developing a novel class of cholesterol-lowering drugs to treat familial hypercholesterolemia.

24 Sep 2020

Study shows why certain genetically predisposed individuals do not develop heart disease

Life can change dramatically when someone learns they are genetically predisposed to a disease, such as a condition called familial hypercholesterolemia, where a mutated gene can lead to elevated cholesterol and increased risk for a premature heart attack.

20 Aug 2020

Population screening has potential to identify individuals at risk for inherited genetic conditions

In a new study published today in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers behind the Healthy Nevada Project® suggest that community-based genetic screening has the potential to efficiently identify individuals who may be at increased risk for three common inherited genetic conditions known to cause several forms of cancer and increased risk for heart disease or stroke.

27 Jul 2020

Genetic testing can help make well-informed decisions about heart health

Genetic testing and counseling for inherited cardiovascular diseases may help patients and their families make well-informed decisions about managing their heart health, according to "Genetic Testing for Inherited Cardiovascular Diseases," a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, published today in the Association's journal Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine.

23 Jul 2020

Individuals with high risk of cancer and CVD cannot be identified based on family history

Certain genetic changes, termed "pathogenic variants," substantially increase risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer--the leading causes of death--but testing to identify individual carriers is not part of current clinical practice.

4 May 2020

Evinacumab drug reduces cholesterol levels in patients with rare cholesterol disorder

The investigational drug evinacumab reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol to near-normal levels among patients with a rare cholesterol disorder, meeting the primary endpoint in the first randomized placebo-controlled trial of the drug, which is being presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).

31 Mar 2020

Monoclonal antibody reduces LDL cholesterol in adult patients with HoFH

The cholesterol drug alirocumab reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by 35.6% compared to placebo in adult patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), according to a phase three clinical trial presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology.

30 Mar 2020

ClinGen expert panel disputes nine genes linked to long QT syndrome

Geneticists and heart specialists around the world had previously reported 17 genes to cause long QT syndrome, a little-known inherited heart condition. However, the Clinical Genome Resource's expert panel has critically reevaluated the scientific evidence for all 17 reported genes, disputing nine of the genes and revealing only three of the genes to be definitively associated with the most common form of the disease.

27 Jan 2020

The Global Call to Action on FH highlights glaring gaps in screening and guideline-based care

The FH Foundation, World Heart Federation, and an international coalition join together to tackle the global burden of familial hypercholesterolemia, a vastly under-recognized and poorly managed public health concern.

2 Jan 2020

Machine learning algorithm effectively identifies individuals with probable familial hypercholesterolemia

The FH Foundation, a leading research and advocacy organization, announced today that a machine learning algorithm effectively identified individuals with probable familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) for the first time at a national scale through its FIND FH initiative.

21 Oct 2019

Familial hypercholesterolemia patients are vulnerable for future heart and stroke events

Individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) were able to lower their cholesterol under FH specialty care, but many are still not meeting LDL-cholesterol targets, according to the FH Foundation's CASCADE FH® Registry.

17 Sep 2019

LDL cholesterol levels should be lowered as much as possible to prevent cardiovascular risk

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels should be lowered as much as possible to prevent cardiovascular disease, especially in high and very high risk patients.

31 Aug 2019

People experienced more cardiovascular events when unable to obtain their LDL-cholesterol drug

Individuals at high risk for cardiovascular events, including those with familial hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerotic heart disease experienced more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events when they were unable to obtain their prescribed LDL-cholesterol lowering medication.

24 Jul 2019

Patients have higher risk of heart problems when insurance companies reject their prescriptions

Patients appear to be at higher risk of heart problems or stroke when prescriptions for the newest cholesterol-lowering drugs are rejected by insurance companies or unfilled by patients, according to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

23 Jul 2019

Polygenic risk scores based on entire genome sequence may reliably predict heart disease

Specialized risk scores derived from testing that calculates the cumulative effect of an individual's entire DNA sequence, the genome, may reliably predict heart disease in people who have not yet had a heart attack, according to new research in Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine, an American Heart Association journal.

11 Jun 2019