Esperion dives, despite positive Ph III results for bempedoic acid

Despite releasing encouraging new data on its cholesterol lowerer, US lipid management firm Esperion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ESPR) saw its shares plunged as much as 10.2% before paring some of those losses and finishing at $76.29, down 2.1% yesterday.

Esperion announced positive top-line results from the first pivotal, Phase III study (Study 4 or 1002-048) of bempedoic acid 180 mg evaluating the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering efficacy and safety and tolerability of bempedoic acid versus placebo in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) or at high risk for ASCVD with hypercholesterolemia inadequately treated with background ezetimibe 10 mg and up to the lowest daily starting dose of a statin.

The 12-week study met its primary endpoint with LDL-C lowering totaling 28% (p<0.001). The LDL-C lowering for the bempedoic acid group was 23% from baseline, as compared to an LDL-C increase of 5% for the placebo group. Patients treated with bempedoic acid also achieved a significantly greater reduction of 33% in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), an important marker of the underlying inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease, compared to the placebo group which had an increase of two percent (p<0.001).