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VASCEPA® (Icosapent Ethyl) Reported to Significantly Reduce Coronary Plaque in EVAPORATE Study Final Results Presented at ESC Congress 2020Primary endpoint of slowed coronary plaque progression reported to have been met with VASCEPA Significant coronary plaque regression of low attenuation plaque (LAP) reported with VASCEPA provides further insight to potential mechanisms of action VASCEPA is the first and only agent studied on top of statins reported to exhibit coronary plaque regression in hypertriglyceridemic patients DUBLIN, Ireland and BRIDGEWATER, N.J., Aug. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ:AMRN) today announced that the trial results from Effect of Icosapent Ethyl on Progression of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients with Elevated Triglycerides on Statin Therapy: Final results of the EVAPORATE Trial were presented at ESC Congress 2020, the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, on August 29, 2020, 9:13 am CEST (Central European Summer Time) by Matthew Budoff, M.D., Director of Cardiovascular CT at The Lundquist Institute and Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the study sponsor. VASCEPA® (icosapent ethyl) demonstrated significant, 17% regression of low attenuation plaque (LAP) volume on multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) compared with placebo over 18 months. As referenced below, these final results can be found in the concurrent publication in European Heart Journal. “EVAPORATE provides important mechanistic data on coronary plaque characteristics that are potentially relevant to the overall REDUCE-IT® results and clinical use of icosapent ethyl,” commented Matthew Budoff, M.D., Director of Cardiovascular CT at The Lundquist Institute and Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “The REDUCE-IT REVASC analysis presented at American Society for Preventive Cardiology last month reported an early coronary revascularization benefit signal with sustained statistical significance attained by 11 months. EVAPORATE is the first demonstration of imaging results with icosapent ethyl using MDCT. The coronary plaque reduction shown in EVAPORATE is consistent with the benefits of icosapent ethyl in cardiovascular event outcomes shown in REDUCE-IT, a separate study.” A total of 80 patients were enrolled in the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled EVAPORATE trial. Patients had to have coronary atherosclerosis as documented by MDCT (1 or more angiographic stenoses with =20% narrowing), be on statin therapy, and have persistently elevated triglyceride (TG) levels (mean TG at baseline was 259.1 mg/dL [+/- 78.1]). Patients underwent an interim scan at 9 months and a final scan at 18 months. The prespecified primary endpoint was a comparison of change in LAP volume at 18 months between icosapent ethyl and placebo. EVAPORATE was not powered for long-term outcomes. The final results showed a significant reduction in the primary endpoint; icosapent ethyl reduced LAP plaque volume by 17% from baseline to the 18-month scan, whereas there was a progression of LAP plaque volume in the placebo group. There were significant differences between icosapent ethyl and placebo at study end for secondary endpoints of other types of plaque volume changes, including and sequentially total, total non-calcified, fibrofatty, and fibrous plaque volumes. All regressed in the icosapent ethyl group and progressed in the placebo group, (p<0.01 for all). The only secondary endpoint which did not achieve a significant difference between groups in multivariable modeling was dense calcium (p=0.053). The mineral oil placebo, used for consistency with REDUCE-IT, was also analyzed against plaque changes from baseline in another placebo in a separate study. Rates of plaque changes in patients randomized to mineral oil (the placebo cohort) in the EVAPORATE study were compared with rates of plaque changes in the placebo arm of a second study that used a cellulose-based placebo. There was no difference in plaque progression between mineral oil and cellulose based placebos.1 “Coronary plaque regression is an important finding with VASCEPA and may explain, in part, the substantial cardiovascular benefit seen in REDUCE-IT,” said Craig Granowitz, M.D., Ph.D., Amarin’s senior vice president and chief medical officer. “The EVAPORATE study results potentially shed further light on how VASCEPA works to lower residual cardiovascular risk.” Limitations of this single study include a small sample size. More study is needed to demonstrate the effects of VASCEPA on coronary plaque to determine the relationship of such effects, if any, on cardiovascular risk reduction. The presentation will be available here with a concurrent publication in European Heart Journal. Financial Disclosure About Amarin About Cardiovascular Risk Controlling bad cholesterol, also known as LDL-C, is one way to reduce a patient’s risk for cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, stroke or death. However, even with the achievement of target LDL-C levels, millions of patients still have significant and persistent risk of cardiovascular events, especially those patients with elevated triglycerides. Statin therapy has been shown to control LDL-C, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular events by 25-35%.3 Significant cardiovascular risk remains after statin therapy. People with elevated triglycerides have 35% more cardiovascular events compared to people with normal (in range) triglycerides taking statins.4,5,6 About REDUCE-IT® REDUCE-IT, conducted over seven years and completed in 2018, followed 8,179 patients at over 400 clinical sites in 11 countries with the largest number of sites located within the United States. REDUCE-IT was conducted based on a special protocol assessment agreement with FDA. The design of the REDUCE-IT study was published in March 2017 in Clinical Cardiology.7 The primary results of REDUCE-IT were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in November 2018.8 The total events results of REDUCE-IT were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in March 2019.9 These and other publications can be found in the R&D section on the company’s website at www.amarincorp.com. About VASCEPA® (icosapent ethyl) Capsules Indications and Limitation of Use
The effect of VASCEPA on the risk for pancreatitis in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia has not been determined. Important Safety Information
Key clinical effects of VASCEPA on major adverse cardiovascular events are included in the Clinical Studies section of the prescribing information for VASCEPA, as set forth below: Effect of VASCEPA on Time to First Occurrence of Cardiovascular Events in Patients with
FULL VASCEPA PRESCRIBING INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.VASCEPA.COM. Forward-Looking Statements Availability of Other Information About Amarin Amarin Contact Information Lee M. Stern Media Inquiries: ?______________________________ 1 Lakshmanan S, Shekar C, Kinninger A, et al. Comparison of mineral oil and non-mineral oil placebo on coronary plaque progression by coronary computed tomography angiography. Cardiovasc Res. 2020;116(3):479-482. 2 American Heart Association. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2020 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2020;141:e139–e596. 3 Ganda OP, Bhatt DL, Mason RP, et al. Unmet need for adjunctive dyslipidemia therapy in hypertriglyceridemia management. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018;72(3):330-343. 4 Budoff M. Triglycerides and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins in the causal pathway of cardiovascular disease. Am J Cardiol. 2016;118:138-145. 5 Toth PP, Granowitz C, Hull M, et al. High triglycerides are associated with increased cardiovascular events, medical costs, and resource use: A real-world administrative claims analysis of statin-treated patients with high residual cardiovascular risk. J Am Heart Assoc. 2018;7(15):e008740. 6 Nordestgaard BG. Triglyceride-rich lipoproteins and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease - New insights from epidemiology, genetics, and biology. Circ Res. 2016;118:547-563. 7 Bhatt DL, Steg PG, Brinton E, et al., on behalf of the REDUCE-IT Investigators. Rationale and Design of REDUCE-IT: Reduction of Cardiovascular Events with Icosapent Ethyl–Intervention Trial. Clin Cardiol. 2017;40:138-148. 8 Bhatt DL, Steg PG, Miller M, et al., on behalf of the REDUCE-IT Investigators. Cardiovascular Risk Reduction with Icosapent Ethyl for Hypertriglyceridemia. N Engl J Med. 2019;380:11-22. 9 Bhatt DL, Steg PG, Miller M, et al., on behalf of the REDUCE-IT Investigators. Reduction in first and total ischemic events with icosapent ethyl across baseline triglyceride tertiles. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;74:1159-1161. |