New Drug Uses Gene Method To Cut Cholesterol

A new type of cholesterol-lowering drug can reduce levels of blood fat by more than 55 percent, the makers of the drug reported on Wednesday. The drug works through an experimental genetic method called antisense, said Carlsbad, California-based Isis Pharmaceuticals . Known only by its experimental name, ISIS 301012 interferes with a protein called apoB-100. ApoB-100 is the molecular carrier of low density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol that causes heart disease.