Colchicine in Patients with Chronic Coronary Disease

“The two clinical trials we have in front of us, the COLCOT trial and the LoDoCo2 trial– both New England Journal of Medicine papers, both with roughly 5,000 patients – provide very clear evidence that following a relatively recent myocardial infarction (that's COLCOT) in chronic stable atherosclerosis (that's LoDoCo2), we're getting 25%-30% relative risk reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) on top of aggressive statin therapy. That's a big deal. It's safe, it works, and it's fully consistent with all the information we have about inflammation being part and parcel of atherosclerosis.”

“These 5,000 patients were randomized either to low-dose colchicine, at a dose of 0.5 milligrams daily, or a placebo. And they were followed out for 28 months. And what the study showed was those patients randomized to 0.5 milligrams of colchicine had a 31 percent relative risk reduction in a composite of cardiovascular death, stroke, MI, and ischemia-driven coronary revascularization.”

“Pretty impressive, FDA was willing to give a label. Really, it's one of the first new drugs to be approved for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in quite a long time.”