Scientists from the Montreal Heart Institute gave the medication dalcetrapib or a placebo to 5,749 patients. Dalcetrapib is a CETP inhibitor, which is a drug that is intended to reduce the risk of heart disease by improving blood lipid levels.

 

In the study, they found that patients with a variant for a gene called ADCY9 given the drug experienced a 39 percent reduction in cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, strokes, unstable angina, the need for coronary revascularization, or cardiac death.

 

Supporting evidence was also obtained from a second study, which showed that patients with the favorable genetic profile also benefited from a reduction in the thickness of their carotid artery walls with dalcetrapib. The carotid arteries are the vessels in the neck that carry blood from the heart to the brain, and their clogging increases stroke risk.

 

"(The research) offers great hope for precision treatments for patients with cardiovascular diseases and for curbing atherosclerosis, the first cause of mortality in the world," said Jean-Claude Tardif, M.D., director of the Research Center at the Montreal Heart Institute.

 

Personalized medicine is increasingly used in cancer treatment but has not yet gained a foothold in cardiac care.