Sanofi commences enrolment for hypercholesterolemia drug trial

Sanofi and partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have begun enrolling patients for a phase III trial of SAR236553/REGN727, an investigational therapy for hypercholesterolemia.

The Odyssey Outcomes study will assess the subcutaneously-administered fully-human antibody's ability to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by targeting PCSK9.

Around 18,000 patients that have suffered from acute coronary syndromes will be recruited for the trial, which will take place across 49 countries in six continents.

This comes as part of the wider Odyssey phase III programme that is currently being conducted across more than 2,000 study centres internationally.

Dr Gabriel Steg, professor of cardiology at the Hopital Bichat-Claude Bernard in Paris, said this trial could offer a positive outcome for "a population at high risk of CV events despite best contemporary therapy".

Last month, Sanofi reported positive data from a phase III trial of Aubagio, the new therapy for multiple sclerosis developed by its subsidiary Genzyme.