Eli Lilly and Company recently announced that its investigational once-daily oral lipoprotein(a)-Lp(a) inhibitor muvalaplin achieved positive results in a Phase 2 clinical trial. The study showed that the trial met the primary endpoint. Muvalaplin could significantly reduce elevated Lp(a) levels in adult patients, and the patients' percentage change in Lp(a) levels from baseline to week 12 showed significant improvement. These data were published in the journal JAMA and released simultaneously at the 2024 American Heart Association (AHA) Annual Scientific Meeting.

Muvalaplin is an orally administered small molecule that inhibits Lp(a) formation by blocking the apo(a)-apo B100 interaction while avoiding the interaction with the homologous protein plasminogen.

The analysis showed that muvalaplin (10 mg, 60 mg and 240 mg) significantly reduced patients' Lp(a) levels in the primary endpoint at week 12. Placebo-adjusted Lp(a) reductions were up to 85.8% as assessed by the intact Lp(a) assay and up to 70.0% as assessed by the apo(a) assay. The specific data are as follows:

Using the intact Lp(a) assay: the reductions for the 10 mg, 60 mg, and 240 mg doses were 47.6%, 81.7%, and 85.8%, respectively.

Using the apo(a) assay: the reductions for the 10 mg, 60 mg, and 240 mg doses were 40.4%, 70.0%, and 68.9%, respectively.
Additionally, muvalaplin met secondary endpoints at all doses tested. In terms of safety, the incidence of adverse events of muvalaplin was similar to that of the placebo group, and most of them were minor events, showing its good tolerability and safety.