Thousand Oaks, Calif. — Amgen announced new Phase 3 data showing that Repatha reduced the risk of death in high-risk adults who had not previously experienced a heart attack or stroke when added to statins or other LDL cholesterol-lowering therapies.
The findings come from a prespecified analysis of the Phase 3 VESALIUS-CV trial and were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2026 in Munich. The results were also published in Circulation.
In the study of more than 12,000 high-risk patients, Repatha reduced the risk of death by 20%, according to Amgen. The company said reductions were observed in both all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality.
The reduction in deaths began to emerge after about 1.5 years of treatment and continued through a median follow-up period of 4.6 years.
“For people at high risk of a heart attack or stroke, lowering LDL-C or ‘bad’ cholesterol with Repatha may do more than help prevent these events; it may also reduce the risk of dying from heart disease and its serious consequences,” said Jay Bradner, M.D., Executive Vice President of Research and Development, Artificial Intelligence and Data at Amgen. “This is especially significant given cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide.”
Additional analyses from VESALIUS-CV showed that Repatha reduced the risk of first, subsequent and total cardiovascular events. Another analysis found that reductions in heart attack risk were seen as early as six months after treatment began.
Amgen said the reduction in heart attacks was driven primarily by fewer events caused by ruptured atherosclerotic plaque and fewer larger infarctions. Benefits were consistent across key patient subgroups.
“These analyses reinforce that a patient’s first major cardiovascular event is not merely an isolated occurrence, but often a transition to a higher risk state,” said Marc S. Sabatine, M.D., M.P.H., Chair of the TIMI Study Group and the Lewis Dexter, MD, Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine at Mass General Brigham Heart & Vascular Institute.
“Evolocumab reduced not only first cardiovascular events, but also subsequent events during the course of the study, the latter of which almost doubled the number of events prevented. By preventing these events, evolocumab can alter the patient’s trajectory, with lower rates of all-cause mortality and consistent effects for both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality.”
Amgen also presented data from two global real-world studies examining gaps in lipid management.
One study found that patients with coronary artery disease but no prior heart attack or stroke were often undertreated and frequently failed to reach recommended LDL cholesterol targets.
A second analysis found disparities between men and women, with high-risk women less likely to receive intensive lipid-lowering therapy or achieve recommended LDL cholesterol levels.
Amgen said the findings highlight the potential importance of earlier and more intensive LDL cholesterol reduction in patients at elevated cardiovascular risk.
