It wasn’t that long ago that CETP inhibitors were the next big thing in heart medicine.
The drugs were part of a bet by researchers that raising the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as “good” cholesterol, might be more effective than lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), or “bad” cholesterol.
Several large drugmakers, enticed by the potential of CETP inhibitors, raced to test the theory, only to see them fall short time and again. CETP blockers from Roche (dalcetrapib), Pfizer (torcetrapib) and Eli Lilly (evacetrapib) each failed large trials, and some of them led to serious side effects.
