Dive Brief:
- Praluent (alirocumab), a cholesterol drug in the promising new PCSK9 inhibitor class being co-developed and commercialized by Sanofi and Regeneron, has been hailed as a "next-generation" cholesterol treatment with multi-billion dollar sales potential.
- Prepping for an expected filing and approval in 2015, the companies have developed a "Cholesterol Counts" campaign that will be launched at some point next year, FiercePharma Marketing reports. The campaign features a U.S. map with interconnected hearts, collects demographic information, and educates visitors about hypercholesterolemia—what the numbers mean and the what the consequences are.
- Several other companies are also developing PCKSK9 inhibitors, including Amgen and Pfizer.
Dive Insight:
The data tell an important story when it comes to this new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs. For example, in a recent head-to-head trial between Praluent and Zetia in patients who can't tolerate statins, there was a 45% decrease in LDL-C in Praluent-treated patients, compared with a 14.6% drop in LDL-C in Zetia-treated patients.
So the companies developing these drugs are trying to rack up as much data as possible ahead of time, with Sanofi and Regeneron testing Praluent in various populations and various combinations ahead of filing with the FDA. 2015 promises to be an interesting year for this age-old therapeutic class.