Most people with high cholesterol can lower it with statins, but the costly new drug Praluent could be a lifesaver for an estimated 1 million Americans with an inherited condition causing extremely high cholesterol.
The newly approved cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent is powerful almost beyond belief. It can drive levels of LDL cholesterol, the dangerous kind, into the 20s or even the teens, numbers seldom before seen in adults. In general, it lowers cholesterol by 50 to 70 percent, compared with 15 to 20 percent with statins.
The $14,600 yearly price of the drug, which is injected under the skin once every two weeks, is a stunner.