DATE=11/5/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SYNTHETIC CHOLESTEROL (L-O)

NUMBER=2-309490

BYLINE=JESSICA BERMAN

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

INTRO: Researchers have developed what's being hailed as the "holy grail" in the treatment of heart disease -- a synthetic "good" cholesterol drug. As V-O-A's Jessica Berman reports, the drug has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of heart attack.

TEXT: /// OPT /// The heart drug was developed after doctors in a rural section of northern Italy discovered that villagers were healthy despite extremely low levels of "good cholesterol." It turns out they were protected by a variation of the gene that makes the beneficial cholesterol, known as H-D-L, and that's what scientists replicated in the laboratory. /// END OPT ///

H-D-L cholesterol reduces the risk of heart attack by interfering with the accumulation of plaque, a sticky substance that blocks the flow of blood to the heart in coronary arteries. The build-up is commonly referred to as atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.

The "Journal of the America Medical Association" reports results of testing on the drug developed by a small biotechnology company that mimics "good" cholesterol.

The study -- conducted between November 2001 and March 2003 -- involved 47 patients at centers across the United States who'd just had a heart attack and were at risk of another one.

Cardiologist Steven Nissen at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio coordinated the investigation in which 36 patients got the active drug.

/// NISSEN ACT ///

When I received the data, I was stunned, because what had happened was a pretty significant fraction of the plaque in the coronaries, a little more than four percent, was gone.

/// END ACT ///

Experts say the reduction is ten times greater than current treatments for hardening of the arteries, including cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins and a low fat, high fiber diet. And it took only six weeks to work.

Bryan (BRIAN) Brewer, with the U-S National Institute of Health's Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, says the finding goes against a common assumption.

/// BREWER ACTUALITY ///

It was thought (that) because of the long, chronic nature of this disease it would take treatment months to years to have a significant effect in reducing the hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis.

/// END ACT ///

The Cleveland Clinic's Steven Nissen is planning a huge trial involving thousands of people, with an eye toward getting the synthetic "good cholesterol" drug to market in two to three years. (SIGNED)

NEB/JB/RH