CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 31, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AEGR), today announced that 56-week data for its lead compound, lomitapide, in a pivotal Phase III clinical trial, were consistent with the data seen in the same study at 26 weeks. The single-arm, open label trial is designed to evaluate the efficacy and long-term safety of lomitapide for the treatment of patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). HoFH is a rare and often fatal condition characterized by severely elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL-C, leading to life-threatening cardiovascular events. Lomitapide has been designated by FDA as an orphan drug to treat this condition. The data show that lomitapide reduced cholesterol substantially in patients with HoFH.
