People taking the experimental drug for high cholesterol were half as likely to die or suffer a heart attack or stroke as those taking conventional statins.
The results could offer an alternative to the estimated one in three Westerners with high cholesterol who have been unable to manage their condition with diet, exercise and statin drugs currently on the market.
The U.S. government will decide this summer whether to allow two of these drugs on the market.
The drugs are evolocumab, and alirocumab, lower LDL or bad cholesterol more powerfully and in a different way than existing drugs, by blocking PCSK9, a substance that interferes with the liver's ability to remove cholesterol from the blood.
