Evinacumab

Evinacumab is a recombinant human IgG4 monoclonal antibody targeted against angiopoietin-like protein 3 (ANGPTL3) and the first drug of its kind. The ANGPTL family of proteins serve a number of physiologic functions - including involvement in the regulation of lipid metabolism - which have made them desirable therapeutic targets in recent years. Loss-of-function mutations in ANGPTL3 have been noted to result in hypolipidemia and subsequent reductions in cardiovascular risk, whereas increases in function appear to be associated with cardiovascular risk, and it was these observations that provided a rationale for the development of a therapy targeted against ANGPTL3.

In February 2021, evinacumab became the first-and-only inhibitor of ANGPTL3 to receive FDA approval after it was granted approval for the adjunctive treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) under the brand name "Evkeeza". Evinacumab is novel in its mechanism of action compared with other lipid-lowering therapies and therefore provides a unique and synergistic therapeutic option in the treatment of HoFH.