An injection given once every three months lowered triglyceride levels by about 80 percent and cut acute pancreatitis events by 78 percent in two late-stage trials presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich.
The pancreatitis result is the one that matters clinically. People with severe hypertriglyceridemia are not treated aggressively because a lab number looks alarming. They are treated because very high triglycerides can trigger acute pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that causes severe abdominal pain, often requires hospitalization, and can be fatal.
