Evolocumab reduced total cardiovascular events in high-risk patients
The randomized trial found a 20% relative reduction versus placebo in first and subsequent events combined over a median follow-up of 4.6 years.
Placebo-controlled, registered NCT03872401
Limit: The abstract does not report adverse events
Stake: Amgen, which develops evolocumab, funded the study; authors work for it, take fees from it and receive grants from it.
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In a randomized trial, 12,257 patients with fatty buildup in their arteries or high-risk diabetes received the cholesterol-lowering drug evolocumab or placebo. None had a prior heart attack or stroke. All had low-density lipoprotein (“bad”) cholesterol of at least 90 mg/dL while on optimized cholesterol-lowering therapy.
Over a median 4.6 years, evolocumab reduced the combined rate of first and subsequent cardiovascular events by 20% relative to placebo. The measure counted deaths from disease in the heart’s arteries, heart attacks, strokes caused by blocked blood flow, and procedures to improve inadequate blood flow in arteries. From annualized event-rate differences, the researchers projected 55 fewer total events per 1,000 patients over five years: 31 first events and 24 subsequent events.
Why it matters
Cardiovascular disease becomes more common with age. Counting repeat events helps assess the longer-term benefit of intensive cholesterol lowering.
Caveats
The five-year absolute benefit was projected from event rates. The findings do not address lower-risk people or those with a prior heart attack or stroke; the abstract does not report the dose or adverse events.
Evolocumab is part of Bryan Johnson's Blueprint
The paper
Universidade de São Paulo; Brigham and Women's Hospital
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Aug 28, 2026
