A Shot in the Arm for Heart Patients

Lots of Americans take statin drugs every day to prevent heart attacks. But now there's word of a vaccine that could replace those pills and you'd only take it once or -- at most -- a couple of times a year.

Kelsey-Seybold Cardiologist Dr. Rohan Wagle says the idea is clever.

"What this vaccine basically does is it promotes your body to create those inhibitors, through the form of antibodies, on your own."

But Dr. Wagle says if there's a negative reaction to the pills, you just stop taking them.

"If you had a vaccine and your body started creating those antibodies you can't really turn that off so I think there's still a lot of long term trials that need to be done to make sure this therapy would be safe."

However, Dr. Wagle says he's optimistic.

"From the principle standpoint of this therapy, I'll call it a hopeful therapy that makes sense and could have a lot of good effects and hopefully will be at our doorstep soon."

Austrian researchers say the therapy has been successful with mice and they expect it to have a similar effect on humans. One side-effect is an increased risk of developing diabetes.


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