Twenty-six weeks of PCSK9 inhibitor therapy on top of maximally tolerated statins increases markers of plaque stability in patients with stable coronary artery disease, according to the YELLOW III trial, led by Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Kini presented the results as a late-breaking clinical trial at the American College of Cardiology/World Congress of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans on Saturday, March 4.
The prior YELLOW II study, also in stable coronary disease, showed that high-intensity statin therapy helps to shore up vulnerable plaque morphology. For the new study, investigators turned to evolocumab in patients already maxed out on statins, looking both for signs of plaque stabilization and for genetic markers of medication activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.