What Will It Take to Overcome Treatment Inertia? Exploring Opportunities With Emerging PCSK9 Inhibitors to Reduce ASCVD Risk

What Will It Take to Overcome Treatment Inertia in Reaching LDL-C Goals? Exploring Opportunities with Emerging PCSK9 Inhibitors to Reduce ASCVD Risk

Digital FAQ

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is a common condition that is treated with lipid-lowering agents, and guidelines recommend individualized pharmacotherapy plans determined by the patient’s risk for ASCVD. While statins are recommended as the first-line treatment for lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, PCSK9 inhibitors are recommended in high- and very high-risk patients who are on maximally tolerated statin therapies. Yet despite this guidance, therapeutic inertia persists leading to poorly controlled LDL-C levels and greater cardiovascular risk.

While PCSK9 inhibitors have proven efficacy, safety, and tolerability, clinicians report concern about the expense of these medications and patients can be hesitant to consider due to the self-administration component. Emerging PCSK9s inhibitors look to overcome some of these barriers and clinicians must be ready to optimally adopt these therapies in patients with persistently high LDL-C levels per guideline recommendations.

This digital FAQ supports clinicians in mitigating these barriers by translating the latest evidence into easy-to-adopt strategies for routine clinical practice. Find answers to the questions of greatest relevance to you while bypassing areas of already established knowledge.

Faculty: Robert Giugliano, MD, SM, FACC, FAHA

Release Date: April 25, 2025

Expiration Date: April 25, 2026