Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes Journal

the Family Heart Foundation is a data and patient-driven research and advocacy organization dedicated to reducing heart disease. Individuals with FH and established heart disease are at extremely high risk of heart attacks and strokes. First-line treatment to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease is statins, but for some, including many with FH, that is not enough.

Since the introduction of PCSK9is in 2015, the Family Heart Foundation has consistently heard from our constituents - both individuals with FH and physicians - that there were difficulties getting PCSK9 inhibitors (PCSK9is) approved for coverage. Our research aimed to understand the impact on outcomes that not receiving their PCSK9 prescriptions might have for individuals at high-risk for cardiovascular events in the U.S.

This new Family Heart Foundation research, published in Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, highlights the unintended consequencesof the lack of PCSK9 prescription coverage. Specifically, the real world evidence shows that individuals at high risk for cardiovascular events, including those with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), had more heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events, when unable to obtain their prescribed PCSK9 inhibitors.[1]