Steer clear of these life-threatening new cholesterol-lowering drugs

There’s a new kind of cholesterol drug hitting the market very soon.

One that’s so scary that statins may soon look as warm and fuzzy as a puppy.

The first version of this new, high-tech way of lowering cholesterol looks like it will be out this summer.

It’s called a PCSK9 blocker, and it works by blocking a gene that regulates how much cholesterol comes from your liver.

And it can send your cholesterol levels way down into the flashing red-light alarm zone.

That is, low enough to kill you.

Too low for comfort

Big Pharma has been working on this gene disruptor for some time now. And when you hear just how it was discovered, you’ll see what an insane idea this was from the very beginning.

There are people with a rare genetic disease that have “broken” PCSK9 genes. And these sick people have super-low cholesterol numbers.

When researchers found the link between that disease and low cholesterol, they said “Eureka!” “Why we can give everyone that rare disorder and we’ll all have these amazingly low cholesterol numbers.”

Once the cat was out of the bag, Big Pharma rushed to the gate, with the biggest names working on its own version of this gene-tampering drug.

Drug maker Amgen looks like it will hit the finish line first. Its drug, evolocumab, will undoubtedly be given the go-ahead by the FDA at the end of August.

Next in line are Sanofi and Regeneron. Those companies are so anxious to get their version, called alirocumab, into the hands of doctors that they bought a voucher at auction for $67.5 million that will get the drug out of FDA “review” 4 months faster than usual. (That’s a topic for another day…)

And Pfizer, is so excited about this new kind of med that it plans to make several versions. Not happy with just a pill, it’s also working on a vaccine.

A Pfizer executive said if its shot is successful, he hopes people will get it annually. A vaccine against high cholesterol that you could get at the CVS with along with your flu shot.

Pfizer alone is expecting sales in the $2 billion range. So that’s what they get out of it.

But here’s what we will get out of PCSK9 drugs…

A nationwide experiment to see what happens when millions have their cholesterol levels plunge to previously unheard of levels.

I’m talking about low double digits – like down into the 50s.

And that can be deadly.

Decades of research has shown that when your cholesterol falls below a certain range, it’s an invitation to disaster. Some studies have said that under 180 things get risky, others put the optimal number higher, in the 230 range.

And that’s because there are many ways cholesterol helps you stay healthy. It’s not only a powerful antioxidant, but your body needs it to make vitamin D and for hormone production.

And low cholesterol levels have also been closely linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s.

In fact, two of the drug makers working feverishly on their PCSK9 meds received a warning letter from the FDA saying that it has become “aware of neurocognitive adverse events” with these drugs.

You can bet the pharma companies aren’t the only ones rushing on this. Most docs won’t be able to write prescriptions for these new cholesterol drugs fast enough.

And when they do that, you should also move fast…out of their offices.

Source:

“Pfizer developing cholesterol-fighting vaccines as part of PCSK9 ‘franchise’ Carly Hefand, January 15, 2015, FierceVaccines, fiercevaccines.com