Amgen reports positive data from cholesterol-lowering drug trial

Amgen has announced positive data from GAUSS-2, a new phase III trial assessing the performance of evolocumab as a means to treating patients with high cholesterol levels.

The study evaluated evolocumab in patients with high cholesterol who cannot tolerate statins and was able to meet its primary endpoint of reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels after 12 weeks.

Evolocumab is an investigational fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9, a protein that reduces the liver's ability to remove LDL-C from the blood.

Data from the GAUSS-2 trial will be submitted to a future medical conference and for publication.

Dr Sean Harper, executive vice-president of research and development at Amgen, said: "The positive GAUSS-2 results suggest that evolocumab may offer a new lipid-lowering treatment to meet an important medical need for high-risk patients who cannot tolerate effective doses of statins."

Earlier this month, the company agreed a deal with Illumina to co-develop a new companion diagnostic test for the oncology agent Vectibix, which is approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.