A new class of heart medications could be a game-changer for many people with high cholesterol, providing an alternative to statin drugs and more effectively preventing heart attacks, a top cardiologist tells Newsmax Health.

“The approval of a new treatment for cholesterol is always exciting because it means that we have another tool in the cardiology tool chest,” said Chauncey Crandall, M.D., director of preventive medicine at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic. “These new drugs could help people who are at high risk for heart attack that we can’t help in any other way.”

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel this week recommended approval for two new drugs – alirocumab (Parluent) and evolocumab (Repatha). The FDA must still give final approval, but it rarely rules against its advisory committee.

The advisors made their recommendation based on short-term studies that showed the new drugs reduce LDL cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol, by up to 60 percent. It won’t be known if the drugs actually reduce heart attacks or death until the results of long-term studies are announced in 2017, although it is widely assumed they will.

The committee limited use of the drugs to people with inherited high cholesterol – an estimated 650,000 Americans. But these numbers could balloon by a million more if, as expected, people for whom statins don't work effectively are added along with those who cannot tolerate the older drugs' side effects.

Many people cannot take statins because the medications give them severe muscle pain.

Statin drugs lower cholesterol by suppressing its manufacture in the liver. The new drugs work differently. They mimick mutations in a gene, PCSK9, that blocks cholesterol production. Thus far, the studies have found no adverse side effects.

But the new drugs do have drawbacks, said Dr. Crandall. They must be injected every two weeks or monthly.

“Some people won’t like the idea of giving themselves shots, so that could be a turnoff,” he said. “But on the other hand, others may prefer a once-a-month shot to taking a pill every day.”

The new drugs are also likely to cost about $10,000 a year, which is far more expensive than statin therapy. “Unless these drugs prove to have a clear benefit in reducing heart attack and death, the government is unlikely to approve them as a first line treatment,” Dr. Crandall said. What's more, insurance companies may balk at paying for the drugs.

Even though the medications dramatically lower cholesterol, they should not be viewed as a “cure-all,” said Dr. Crandall. Most people can bring their cholesterol levels down to acceptable levels through lifestyle changes, without the need for statins or any other drug, he said.

“All of these drugs should be seen as a bridge to better health, not the answer to living a bad lifestyle,” said Dr. Crandall, author of the monthly newsletter, the Heart Health Report.

“The medications should be used to get you to target quickly so you can make changes – like losing weight, and getting more exercise and sleep – and then you lower your heart risk without the need for any drug.”