A little more than a month after AstraZeneca jumped into the fray with the purchase of a rival heart drug candidate, Eli Lilly is turning up the heat on the drugmakers’ potential lipoprotein showdown. Across three doses tested in a phase 2 study, Lilly’s lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) inhibitor muvalaplin helped significantly reduce patients’ heightened levels of Lp(a)—a genetic risk factor for heart disease—versus placebo, allowing the trial to meet its primary endpoint. The drug, which is taken orally once a day, also met secondary endpoints across each of the 10-mg, 60-mg and 240-mg doses tested, Lilly said in a release. Muvalaplin is designed to disrupt the formation of Lp(a) by blocking the initial interaction between apolipoprotein(a) (apo(a)) and apolipoproteinB (apoB). Lilly estimates that about 20% of people in the U.S., or 63 million individuals, deal with high levels of Lp(a), which can greatly increase the risk of heart attack and lead to other cardiovascular risks. To interpret the muvalaplin results, Lilly used both an intact Lp(a) assay and an apo(a) assay.

Full report : Lilly’s lipoprotein-blocking heart med posts midstage win in direct competition with Astrazeneca’s rival heart drug candidate.