New Vaccine May Lower Cholesterol
March 27, 2005 -- Sadie Picardo, 73, is losing her battle with cholesterol.
She eats low-fat meals, exercises, and still she wonders, "What's going on? I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do and it's still not going down."
Artery-clogging cholesterol is one of the biggest risk factors for heart attack and stroke. And unfortunately for some, stubborn cholesterol levels refuse to fall despite a careful diet, exercise, and even cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
Now, on the cutting edge of medicine, emerges a potential solution: a vaccine designed to keep cholesterol levels low and arteries open.
Twice a Year Versus Twice a Day
For a while, Picardo tried statins to lower her cholesterol but shortly gave up, explaining, "I don't like taking pills to begin with, and when I would take this I would wake up the next morning and my muscles would be sore."
According to Dr. Michael Davidson of Rush Medical College in Chicago, Picardo is like many others who start and, citing side effects, stop their statin medications. "Roughly 50 percent of people who start on a statin pill are not taking it a year later," says Davidson.
In response to poor patient compliance and cholesterol levels that just won't budge, Avant Immunotherapeutics has been working to develop a cholesterol vaccine.
The biotechnology firm's solution is a twice a year injection designed to alter the balance of cholesterol in the body. Compared to statin drugs, which are taken twice daily, the vaccine is expected to be a welcome convenience for thousands of Americans.
Coaxing the Body to Produce 'Good' Cholesterol
Cholesterol comes in two basic forms, the "good" and the "bad." Bad cholesterol, technically know as low density lipoproteins, or LDL, causes arterial disease problems by depositing fatty plaques the walls of the blood vessels.
Good cholesterol, called high density lipoproteins, or HDL, helps unclog arteries by carrying some of the harmful cholesterol out of the bloodstream and into the liver where it is no longer a threat.
