Well, well, well… look who decided to show back up on the blog! It's almost like I had a baby, got covid, went on vacation, started playing ice hockey again and enrolled in a clinical trial over the past couple of months or something. Pfffttt…lazy ass. But seriously, last time we talked I said our baby girl was coming any day now and that was the first of our big moments over the summer. Little miss Mina Claire was born on July 9th and she is absolutely perfect.

While figuring out how to raise two small children we unfortunately got covid a month later. We all had it pretty bad, something I will talk more about in a future post. After recovering from covid we got to vacation a little and then I reached out to my doctors about possibly playing ice hockey again. Let's just say my stress test went excellent and I am happily back on the ice! Another topic for a future post. The last major event that has occurred is my enrollment in a clinical trial, let me tell you all the ins and outs of that in this post.

Maybe you remember, maybe you don't….but I had written a post awhile back called, It's Genetic! Boogie Woogie Woogie. In that post I talk about this protein in my blood which my doctors believe was a key contributor to me having a heart attack, it's called Lp(a) or Lipoprotein A. To refresh your memory "Lipoprotein(a), is a particle in your blood which carries cholesterol, fats and proteins.  The amount your body makes is inherited from one or both parents and is determined by the genes passed on from your parent(s) when you are born. Diet and exercise seems to have little to no impact on the lipoprotein(a) level. About 20% or one in five people have high levels of Lp(a) greater than 50 mg/dL (500 mg/L) from birth based on genetic factors they inherited from their parents, and most don't know they have it." The standard range of Lp(a) in your blood is <29 mg/dl and my results a year or so ago came in at 110 mg/dl… and no, that's not a typo.

Okay so that's the protein, but what is the trial? Funny you should ask. The trial is "A Randomized Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Trial Assessing the Impact of Lipoprotein (a) Lowering with TQJ230 on Major Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Established Cardiovascular Disease".

In english:

  • A Randomized Double-blind means I won't know if I have the drug or the placebo and neither will my doctor.
  • Placebo-controlled means some people will get the 80mg Pelacarsen injection every month and some will just have the placebo injection every month.
  • Multicenter Trial means this trial isn't just at my hospital (University of Pennsylvania). There are approximately 7,680 subjects in 1000 centers in about 48 countries.

So basically, they have developed an injectable drug (Pelacarsen) that will target the Lp(a) protein in your liver and reduce its production. It is a once-a-month injection done either in the thigh or the abdomen, my first appointment to learn how to give myself the injection is March. 3rd. The trial is currently in the third phase and the third phase is expected to last 4.5 years. They are a little over a year or so into it now so I will have approximately 3 years to complete the trial. I can unenroll whenever I chose, if I chose. I also won't have to go to the hospital EVERY month for three years for the injections. I will go monthly for the first six months and then I believe it is every three months until I hit two years into the trial. The last year I will only need to go into the hospital once every six months. The injections will still need to be administered monthly, but I will be able to do that from home. You can just picture it right….hey babe, grab me a beer from the fridge, top shelf behind my needles!

They have seen decreases of 70-80% in the Lp(a) protein production in some test patients! That is incredible and so promising as there are currently no drugs or treatments out there currently to reduce this protein. Fingers crossed I get the actual drug and not the placebo, but in the end, it's still helping move the trial forward for others. I can't wait to get back in to writing you all, lots of things to update you on so stay tuned and thanks for reading!

INSPIRE – ENCOURAGE – EDUCATE

-The Heartbreak Kid

HORIZON: A multicenter trial assessing the impact of lipoprotein (a) lowering with TQJ230 on major cardiovascular events in patients with cardiovascular disease | Cleveland Clinic

On the Horizon: Treatments for Lipoprotein(a) – The Family Heart Foundation (thefhfoundation.org)

Clinical Trial on Cardiovascular Disease and Lipoprotein(a): TQJ230, Placebo – Clinical Trials Registry – ICH GCP

Lp(a) HORIZON achieves 50% enrollment in trial to assess the safety and efficacy of pelacarsen in reducing recurrent cardiovascular events (prnewswire.com)