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(Reuters) – Esperion Therapeutics Inc said on Tuesday its experimental oral drug met the main goal of reducing cholesterol by 30 percent in patients, who were already on another treatment to lower the risk of artery-clogging heart disease.
Esperion’s eight-week mid-stage study tested a dose of 180 milligram per day of its drug, bempedoic acid, taken in addition to Amgen’s Repatha compared with a placebo in 58 patients with high cholesterol.
Repatha belongs to a new class of medicines called PCSK9 inhibitors, which block a protein that stops low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or bad cholesterol, from being removed from the blood.
Bempedoic acid is being developed as a potential treatment for patients with high levels of cholesterol.
Shares of the company were up 2.31 percent at $73.45 in premarket trading.
Esperion plans to submit U.S. marketing application for the drug by the first quarter of 2019.
Earlier this month, Esperion said bempedoic acid met the main goal in a late-stage study that tested the drug as a standalone therapy.
Reporting by Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva
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