Amarin has offices in Bridgewater, New Jersey (United States), Dublin (Ireland), Zug (Switzerland) and other European countries, including Spain and Portugal, as well as business partners and suppliers around the world. “We have an ambitious and challenging objective, so we need to surround ourselves with pioneers who want to put all their enthusiasm, passion and emotion into the introduction into the market of a pharmacological novelty that will change normal clinical practice and become the standard of future treatment. ”says Salvador López, general director of Spain and Portugal at Amarin.
What are the challenges in facing cardiovascular diseases?
In Spain there are more than 10 million people with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) according to the Living Conditions Survey carried out by the INE. Which makes cardiovascular diseases the main cause of death in the world and the main cause of hospital admission, above cancer. To fight against the deadliest pandemic of the 21st century, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular death, preventive measures must be implemented such as improving heart-healthy habits and the introduction of drugs that reduce the risk of events such as heart attack and stroke.
Unfortunately, the prognosis for the coming months is not favorable: the lifestyle habits of our current society, environmental pollution and the aging of the population indicate that the results will worsen if we do not act urgently. It is in our power to act and change our destiny.
Amarin has arrived to cover one of those needs.
There is a group of people, especially vulnerable, who to date did not have any funded therapeutic alternative for their condition and who, starting in September, will be able to reduce their cardiovascular risk considerably. I am referring to those who have diagnosed arteriosclerotic disease or who have had a previous cardiovascular event, and who, in addition, have elevated triglycerides above 150 mg/dL (a fact that can be detected in a routine blood test). We have all learned that LDL-C must be reduced, and that the lower it is, the better. But that is not enough: cardiovascular risk goes beyond having cholesterol under control. This is the risk that, after having suffered a first episode of stroke or heart attack, persists in a patient despite having optimized their treatment of cardiovascular disease and its factors.
Therefore, the essential thing is to prevent. And now, thanks to technology and new tools, we can carry out medical checks with which we can identify those people who have a high or very high risk of having a cardiovascular event and be able to prevent it before it happens. On the other hand, women must be especially careful, since these cardiovascular diseases are increasing among them due to increased stress and tobacco consumption. Furthermore, their detection can be more complicated since they suffer from different symptoms. Special attention should be paid to these effects during the menopause period.
To do this, they have launched a new medicine, what can you tell us about it?
They are capsules with the active ingredient icosapent ethyl (stable ethyl ester of eicosapentaenoic acid), and are the first treatment of their kind approved in Europe for the reduction of cardiovascular risk. The clinical efficacy and safety of this medication were evaluated in the REDUCE-IT study, a multinational, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial subject to the number of cardiovascular events, which included 8,179 adult patients (4,089 icosapent ethyl, 4,090 placebo) treated with statins, average LDL cholesterol of 75 mg/dL (LDL cholesterol between 41-100 mg/dL) and triglycerides between 135-499 mg/dL and with diagnosed cardiovascular disease or diabetes and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease . The median duration of follow-up was 4.9 years.
Icosapent ethyl significantly reduced the relative risk of the primary composite endpoint (time to first occurrence of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, coronary revascularization, or hospitalization for unstable angina) by 25% (reduction absolute risk of 4.8%) and the key composite secondary endpoint (time to first occurrence of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction or non-fatal stroke) by 26%.
What perspectives do you have for the future of Amarin?
We ‘amariners’ have an exciting future ahead of us. Days of hard work await us, of fun for doing our work knowing of our positive impact on society and of great satisfaction for knowing that, thanks to us, many citizens will avoid death, a myocardial infarction or a cerebrovascular accident (stroke). . We are aware of the difficulty. What I convey to my team, and to the scientific class when I have the opportunity, is that if it were easy, our actions would not be necessary. We are here because we believe that, after the appearance of these new capsules, it can be done better and our purpose is to make it a reality in clinical practice as soon as possible, guaranteeing access to all who need it in conditions of equity and justice. Our lives are in it. Dont do it again! Take care of your heart.
