Cholesterol-Lowering Gene Therapy Shows Early Promise in First Human Trial
New research seems to show the potential of a CRISPR-based gene therapy meant to neuter certain forms of cardiovascular disease. In the world’s first human trial of the therapy, people given the highest doses experienced significant and long-lasting reductions in their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The treatment could be used to help people genetically predisposed to high LDL-C and its accompanying health risks.
The gene therapy is being developed by the company Verve Therapeutics under the code name VERVE-101, in collaboration with Eli Lilly. It uses CRISPR technology to turn off a gene found in liver cells that produces an enzyme responsible for regulating LDL, called PCSK9.
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That said, two people did experience serious adverse events during the trial: one person experienced a heart attack a day after treatment and another a fatal cardiac arrest five weeks later. An independent safety panel ruled that the heart attack may have been connected to the treatment, but that the cardiac arrest was caused by the participant’s underlying heart problems; the panel ultimately recommended that the trial go on.
The team’s findings were presented this past weekend at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2023.
“Instead of daily pills or intermittent injections over decades to lower bad cholesterol, this study reveals the potential for a new treatment option—a single-course therapy that may lead to deep LDL-C lowering for decades,” said senior study author Andrew Bellinger, chief scientific officer at Verve Therapeutics, in a statement released on Sunday by the AHA.
These results are still very preliminary, so they should be viewed with added caution. Much larger trials following people over a longer period of time will be needed to truly confirm whether VERVE-101 can actually lower people’s risk of heart disease and its overall safety, but the promise of this therapy is certainly exciting. Animal studies have suggested that its LDL-lowering effect can last for at least 2.5 years and possibly for a lifetime. Currently, there are about 1.3 million adults and children in the U.S. estimated to have a form of familial hypercholesterolemia that could be treated with this therapy, according to the AHA.
Verve plans to keep enrolling more patients in the phase I trial to receive the highest doses of VERVE-101 up through early next year; it will also start a second phase I trial in 2024 testing out the therapy with a different delivery method (VERVE-102). Should this research go as expected, the company is expected to launch a randomized, placebo-controlled phase 2 clinical trial of the best-performing version in 2025.
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